ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ

Commentary:

The words, "the wrongdoers never prosper," lay down an immutable law of God and an infallible criterion to test the truth of a claimant to Divine revelation. The law is that a false claimant to Divine revelation or a false Prophet never succeeds in his mission. Sooner or later he must come to naught.

See 2:228.

2:232; 4:130; 65:3.

Important Words:

امساك (retain) is derived from امسك which is again derived from مسك. They say امسك به i.e. he stuck to it. امسك is both transitive and intransitive. امسكه means, he got hold of it and stopped and retained it. امسك عن الکلام means, he abstained from talking. امساك means, (1) to hold or stop or prevent or retain; (2) to refrain or abstain (Aqrab).

تسریح (send away) is the noun-infinitive from سرح (sarraha) which is derived from سرح. They say سرح المواشی i.e. the cattle went forth for grazing. سرح السیل means, the flood moved on leisurely. سرحه means, he sent him away. سرح فلان زوجته means, he sent away or divorced his wife (Aqrab).

حدود (limits) is the plural of حد i.e. a limit. حده means, he put a limit to it. حد الشیء عن الشیء means, he distinguished one thing from the other. الحد means, (1) the limit or the line where two things meet; (2) last limit or extremity of a thing; (3) that by which a thing may be defined; (4) prescribed punishment for an offence. حدود الله means God’s religious commandments (Aqrab).

Commentary:

This verse contains the fifth check on divorce. A man who seeks permanent and irrevocable separation from his wife must pronounce divorce on three separate occasions, each in a separate طھر i.e. period of purity, when the woman is clean and the man has not gone in unto her during that period of purity. The pronouncement of divorce twice or thrice at one and the same time is not permissible as the verse hints in the word مرتان (twice) which signifies a thing happening on two separate occasions and not two things happening at one and the same time. The Holy Prophet treated such collective pronouncements, whatever their number, as only one divorce (Tirmidhi & Dawud). According to Nasa’i, the Holy Prophet was extremely angry when one day he was told that a person had made all the three pronouncements of divorce at one and the same time, and said: "Is the Book of God going to be made a plaything while I am yet among you?"

After the pronouncement of the first two divorces, the husband can take back the divorced wife within ‘iddah, i.e. the period of waiting, with or without her consent; but after the period of waiting is over, he can take her back only with her consent and that after remarrying her. After the pronouncement of the third divorce, however, the husband forfeits this right and the couple are finally separated. A Companion of the Holy Prophet once asked him saying, "The Quran has here spoken of two divorces only, whence comes in the third!" The Prophet referred him to the Quranic words اوتسریح باحسان i.e. or send them away with kindness meaning thereby that after the pronouncement of the first two divorces the husband was free to retain his wife if he so desired but if he wanted irrevocable separation, he should "send her away", i.e. divorce her a third time (Jarir & Musnad). The point is further made clear in the succeeding verse. Thus the word تسریح here signifies طلاق i.e. divorce.

The present verse also makes it clear that when a person divorces his wife, he forfeits مھر i.e. the dower-money he has given her; and if at the time of divorce he has not yet given her the dower-money agreed on by the parties, he must make the payment before the divorce becomes effective. Again, he is not allowed to take back anything he might have given her in the form of gifts and presents as the clause it is not lawful for you that you take anything of what you have given them indicates.

If, however, it is the wife who demands separation, technically known as خلع (Khul‘a lit. the putting off of clothes etc., or the shedding of old leaves), she must get it through a Qadi or judge as the word خفتم (you fear), which has been put in the plural number, hints. In this case she has to part with, in full or in part, her dowry as well as the gifts she might have received from her husband, as agreed on by the parties or decided by the judge. The case of Jamilah, wife of Qais bin Thabit, provides a good illustration of the exercise of the right of Khul‘a by women. She demanded separation from her husband, Qais, on the ground that she did not like him, i.e. their temperaments being different, she could not get on with him. She was granted Kkul‘a by the Holy Prophet, but she had to return to her husband the orchard he had given her (Bukhari). This right, however, is not to be exercised in a light-hearted manner. The Holy Prophet has condemned the action of a woman who demands separation from her husband without valid reason even as he has condemned the action of a man who divorces his wife without genuine cause. He is reported to have said, "A woman who seeks separation from her husband without a legitimate cause shall be deprived of the fragrance of heaven" (Dawud & Tirmidhi). This is what is hinted in the concluding words, these are the limits prescribed by Allah, so transgress them not, etc. The husband and the wife are both warned to fear God and refrain from transgressing the limits imposed by God for their own good.

2:196; 14:32; 47:39; 57:11; 63:11.

14:32; 43:68.

aSee 2:49.

Important Words:

بیع (buying and selling) is derived from باع i.e. he sold; or he bought; or he bartered (Aqrab).

خلة (friendship) is derived from خل. They say خل الشیء i.e. he pierced the thing and made a hole through it. خل فی دعائه means, he was very particular in his prayer. خل الیه means, he was in need of his help and support. خاله means, he made friends with him and took him as brother. خلة is, therefore, that friendship or love which penetrates the heart and takes root in it. خلیل is one whose friendship and love is very deep and sincere; a most loving and bosom friend (Aqrab). The Holy Prophet is reported to have said: "If I had taken anyone as my خلیل I would have taken Abu Bakr as such, but my خلیل is God" (Bukhari, ch. on Manaqibun-Nabi).

شفاعة (intercession). See note on 2:49.

Commentary:

Though, as the preceding verses point out, the final victory of the Holy Prophet of Islam was sure, yet the path before Muslims was not strewn with roses. They had to make great sacrifices in order to reach the goal. It is to this fact that the verse under comment points. It makes particular reference to financial sacrifices.

The words, wherein there shall be no buying and selling, do not mean that there will be no trade and commerce on the Day of Judgement, but that on that great day nobody will be able to buy salvation, which will depend only on one’s good works coupled with God’s grace. The only buying or selling that will be of avail to men on the Day of Judgement will be that which they shall have made in their present life (9:111).

The words, nor friendship, signify that there will be no occasion for forming new friendships on that day. Those, however, who will have taken God as their friend in their life on this earth will certainly benefit by that friendship. It is to this fact that the Quran refers when it says: Friends on that day shall be foes to one another, except the God-fearing(43:68). The righteous have God as their friend, and He will continue to be their friend on the Day of Judgement!

For شفاعة (intercession), see note on 2:49.

Commentary:

The word ذالك (this) refers to the statement made in the preceding verse. To say that such and such parts of food were disallowed by God whereas He had not forbidden them, or even without directly attributing any commandant to God persistently to abstain from partaking of a lawful food without just reason virtually amounted to forging a lie against God which only wrongdoers could resort to.

Commentary:

While the preceding verse referred to external evidence in support of the Quran being the revealed Word of God, the present one furnishes an internal evidence, which is that from the hearts of those who have been endowed with knowledge of the Quran gush forth fountains of divine light. The fact that the Quran brought about a most wholesome transformation in the lives of a whole people who had sunk deep in the quagmire of moral turpitude and spiritual decadence and gave light to them who were helplessly groping in utter darkness, indeed constitutes a very strong internal evidence that it has proceeded from the Source of all light. The divine light of which the Quran is the repository irrefutably shows that it has been revealed by God and that it was beyond the power of man to produce it.

5:45, 48.

Commentary:

As the law mentioned in this verse is clearly stated to have belonged to the Torah, though it is not to be found in the Bible as we now have it, the words, And whoso waives the right thereto, constitute clear evidence of the fact that the teaching about forgiveness of which Christians boast so much was no monopoly of the Gospels. It was contained in the Torah also, though at the same time there can be no denying the fact that the teachings of Moses lay extra stress on retaliation, as do those of Jesus on forgiveness and non-resistance.

6:94; 7:38; 10:18; 11:19; 61:8.

Commentary:

This verse mentions the third way by means of which God bears witness. This kind of testimony is based on human reason. Every sane man will testify that if a person claims to speak in the name of God while God has not spoken to him, and he forges lies against Him, such a person is one of the greatest culprits and God must bring him to naught; for if impostors are allowed to prosper like true Prophets, there will remain no criterion to distinguish the true from the false, and the truth will be lost. So, in order to distinguish between the true and the false, God must bring to naught the false claimant. Thus the hard fact that God is helping the Prophet of Islam and causing him to prosper in the teeth of all opposition and against heavy odds is a clear testimony from God to his being a true Prophet.

On the other hand, those who reject true Prophets and treat them as impostors are also among the greatest culprits who, by reason of their opposing God’s Messengers and leaving no stone unturned to bring to naught the movement set on foot by them, must incur God’s anger; and, instead of being permitted to destroy the heavenly movement, must themselves be destroyed. Thus, not only by granting success to the Holy Prophet but also by bringing about the destruction of his enemies God is bearing witness to his truth.

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.

6:22; 7:38; 10:18; 11:19; 61:8.

46:21.

Commentary:

The verse gives another reason of the fact that the Quran is the revealed Word of God. If this Book, says the verse, is not the Word of God, then he who has forged this lie against God is the most guilty of men and cannot escape Divine punishment. But the verse also reminds deniers or rejecters that if the Quran is not a forged Book but the Word of God, as it actually is, then they are as great offenders as the one who forges a lie against God. In this case, it will be they who will be visited with Divine punishment.

The second sentence, i.e. or says, It has been revealed to me while nothing has been revealed to him, may be taken as an explanation or elaboration of the first sentence, i.e. who forges a lie against Allah; or the first sentence is general, while the second is particular. For instance, falsely to ascribe any teaching to God will come under the first category, and to claim falsely that God has spoken to him particular words will come under the second.

By saying, I will send down the like of that which Allah has sent down, a disbeliever only borrows the phraseology of those whom he addresses, viz. believers. Being a disbeliever in Divine revelation, he does not believe that God sends down anything, so he only quotes the expression made use of by believers concerning Divine revelation. Another instance of such usage is to be met with in 5:44.

The words, if thou couldst only see, signify that if anyone should witness the torment which the deniers of Prophets undergo when their souls leave their bodies, he would at once realize how severe is the torment of those who reject a Divine Messenger. This torment is not to be identified with the ordinary agonies of death, which are shared, under the general law of nature, by righteous and unrighteous alike, but to the specific punishment that clings to the rejecters of Prophets from the very moment of their death. The "punishment of disgrace" mentioned in the latter part of the verse refers, as the words "this day" indicate, not to the punishment of Hell but to the punishment which sinners begin to undergo immediately after death and before the Day of Resurrection. This is known as عذاب القبر (‘Adhabul-Qabr), i.e. punishment in the grave, in Islamic religious terminology, قبر or grave being the name given to the place where souls are kept after death but before Resurrection. Says the Holy Prophet: "When anyone dies, a window is opened out for him in the grave facing Heaven or Hell as the case may be" (Majah, ch. on Qabr). This is, of course, not the final retribution but only preparatory to it.

11:94,122; 39:40-41.

Important Words:

مکانتکم (as best you can). The word مکان is considered by some to have been derived from کان which means, he or it was, or he or it came into existence. مکان means, place of being or existence. مکانة means, place of being or existence; state or condition. The Arabs say مکانك و زیدا i.e. keep where thou art and approach not Zaid (Lane & Aqrab). The expression اعملوا علی مکانتکم means, do what you can; or act as best you can; or remain where you are and do your worst (Kashshaf). Some authorities, however, consider the word to have been derived from مکن in which case it signifies greatness; or high rank or standing; or honourable a place or position, especially with a king or potentate (Aqrab & Lane). In this sense the expression would mean, "You look upon yourselves to be great or high in rank. Now come and exert your full power against Islam and then see what the result will be."

Commentary:

As explained under Important Words, the expression اعملوا علی مکانتکم means, you may do your worst and exert yourselves to the utmost of your power and resources to extirpate Islam and destroy the small Muslim community but you will never succeed.

The words, Soon will you know whose will be the ultimate reward, signify, "you will soon see which of the two parties will succeed in the end." The word الدار (abode) may refer either to this world or to the next. In both cases the ultimate reward is reserved for the truthful.

3:29; 4:140,145; 9:16; 58:23.

Commentary:

This verse deals with that class of idolaters who were actively hostile to Islam and strove hard to exterminate it. They had declared war on innocent Muslims, and such was their hatred of Islam that they even disregarded the ties of relationship with a view to harming them. It was with such implacable enemies of Islam that Muslims were forbidden to make friends, for such an act on their part would have amounted to treachery to Islam and would certainly have done it incalculable harm. As for other disbelievers who were not at war with Muslims, the Quran exhorts Muslims to be benevolent and kind to them (see 60:9,10). As a matter of fact, Islam attaches greater importance to the spiritual welfare of man than to his material well-being, and it is evident that friendly relations with men who prefer disbelief to faith are bound to exercise a baneful influence on spiritual growth.

Important Words:

راودته (she sought to seduce him). راود is derived from راد which means, he or it came and went; he went to and fro; he was restless; it also means, he sought or desired a thing; راوده means, he endeavoured or sought to turn him to or from a thing. راوده عن الامر means, he endeavoured to turn him by blandishment or by deceitful arts from the thing. راوده علی الامرmeans, he endeavoured to turn him by blandishment, etc., to the thing. The Quranic expression سنراود عنه اباہ means, we will endeavour to turn his father from him by blandishment or artifice and to make him yield him to us; or we will strive to obtain him of his father. So the words راودته عن نفسه would mean, she desired or sought of him a sinful act using blandishment or artifice for that purpose; she tempted him to do the sinful act; she endeavoured to entice him and to make him yield himself to her; more literally, she endeavoured to turn him by blandishment, etc., from his disdainful noncompliance or from his purpose and will. الرود really signifies going about in search of a thing. المراودة means, seeking to make a person do a thing against his will (Lane & Mufradat).

ھیت لك (now come). ھیت is a word of exclamation denoting wonder. The Arabs say ھیت للحلم i.e. what forbearing mildness or clemency! The word is used in the sense of ھلم or تعال or اقبل meaning, "come or come forward." It is also used to signify "hasten" and "set forth journeying." The words therefore mean, "come thou" or "now come." The words also signify, "come, I am ready for thee, or I am ready to receive thee" (Lane & Mufradat).

معاذ الله (I seek refuge with God). معاذ is the noun-infinitive from عاذ. They say عاذ به من کذا i.e. he sought protection by him from that or sought refuge in him from that; or he put his trust in him, or relied upon him, for protection from such a thing. معاذ means, a refuge; a place to which one has recourse for protection or preservation; also the time at which one does so. The expressions معاذ الله and عیاذ الله and عیاذا بالله are all synonymous with اعوذ بالله معاذا i.e. I seek protection or preservation by God (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse clearly shows that the woman who sought to seduce Joseph failed in her efforts and that Joseph successfully resisted her temptation. The words, "He is my Lord," refer to God, and not to Joseph’s Egyptian master, as some commentators have wrongly supposed. It is difficult to imagine that a highly spiritual man like Joseph should have abstained from sin merely out of regard for the paltry favours of a human benefactor and not for the manifold Divine boons.

Whatever honour Joseph had received from his Egyptian master was really in fulfilment of God’s promises. So it was for the sake of his True Lord and Master that he followed the path of rectitude and refused to be seduced into sin, which would have amounted to an act of ingratitude far more towards God than to any human benefactor.

Joseph not only himself abstained from the heinous sin, but also warned his master’s wife against its evil consequences by saying that the wrongdoers never prosper. The expression راودته translated as "she sought to seduce him against his will," literally means, as shown under Important Words, "she endeavoured to turn him from his purpose or will by blandishment and artifice and make him yield to her against his disdainful noncompliance." This meaning shows that Joseph abhorred the evil deed to which she invited him and was determined not to yield.

Important Words:

تشخص (will fixedly stare) is derived from شخص which means, he or it rose; or, he or it became raised. شخص النجم means, the star rose and became visible on the horizon. They say شخص بصرہ i.e. his eyes became fixedly open; his eyes became raised; or his sight became stretched and raised. شخص المیت بصرہ means, the dying man raised his eyes, which became fixedly open. The Arabs say شخص به امر i.e. something happened to him and disquieted him as though he were raised from the ground by reason of his disquietude (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

With the preceding verse ended the prayer of Abraham, which was meant as an introduction for reverting to the subject of the Holy Prophet. Abraham had prayed that the worship of the One God might be established in Mecca through his progeny, particularly the Holy Prophet for whose appearance he had prayed to God (2:130). The conquest of Mecca, in which lay the Sacred House which had been built for the worship of the One God but which had now become the centre of idolatry, alone could fulfil this prayer. So the Holy Prophet is told here that he should not think that God is unaware of the actions of his enemies, who are now holding the House of God and are leaving no stone unturned to check the spread of Islam. He will certainly destroy the idolaters and establish His own worship in the land. The respite which was being granted to the Meccans was intended to afford them an opportunity to repent and mend their ways; and if they did not do so the day was not far off when, owing to the sudden consternation caused by Divine punishment, "the eyes will fixedly stare" in bewilderment. This graphic picture of the Fall of Mecca is continued in the following verse.

34:28; 46:5.

Commentary:

As the Arabs, who were the first addressees of the Message of the Quran, were steeped in worst form of idolatry, God has exposed the futility of their polytheistic beliefs again and again in the Quran. In the present verse the idolaters are asked, why do they worship other gods beside Allah when these false gods have neither created any earthly thing nor have they made any contribution to the creation of the celestial bodies? They are further asked whether they have a revealed Book which gives them the authority to preach and promulgate their false beliefs. They should at least possess some reason or authority for their idolatrous beliefs and practices.

7:39; 14:22; 28:64; 33:68; 40:48.

Commentary:

The expression بین یدیه literally meaning "between his two hands" is used in the sense of "before him or it." It has been used in this sense in 5:47 and 46:22. But it is also used in the sense of "in his presence" as in v. 13. Sometimes, however, this expression refers to a thing which is yet to come. In this sense the expression الذی بین یدیه may mean "the revelation which is yet to come."

It is human nature that when a guilty person is face to face with the punishment of his guilt, he tries to excuse himself by seeking to shift the responsibility for his misdeeds to another person. It is to this aspect of human nature that reference has been made in this and the next two verses. In these verses the deceivers and the deceived are shown as engaging in mutual recrimination when they see punishment overtaking them, seeking to throw the responsibility of their disbelief one upon another.

25:9.

Commentary:

The expression نحن اعلم بما یستمعون به means that God knows full well the object of disbelievers in listening to the Holy Prophet. They listen to him in order to reject him and find fault with him. The expression may also mean that God is fully aware of the mental attitude of disbelievers to the Holy Prophet. They listen to him in a spirit of mockery and hostility.

The verse refers to some of the 'coverings' over the hearts of disbelievers, e.g. (a) they hold idolatrous beliefs; (b) they listen to the Quran in order to mock at it; (c) they look upon the Prophet as too weak to lead a successful movement; (d) they regard him as a victim of deception and (e) they consider him mad. All these various causes of the rejection of the Prophet by disbelievers are implied in the word مسحور (a victim of deception), which possesses a variety of meanings.

36:82; 46:34; 86:9.

Commentary:

The verse embodies an invincible argument to prove the existence of life after death. It does not straightaway say to disbelievers that they would be born again because God has the power to give them a new birth. Such a statement would have been an empty assertion. It says to them that if it is difficult for them to believe in a life after death, they would as well disbelieve if they were told that they would lose their power and prestige to those very weak and poor Muslims whom they now look down upon as of no worth and consequence. If this seemingly impossible prophecy about their complete destruction and the rise to power of the poor Muslims turned out to be true, the claim that there is a life after death and that they will be punished for their misdeeds and rejection of truth will also have to be accepted as true. Now history bears eloquent testimony to the fact that within a few years after the above prophecy was made, the powerful Empires of Persia and Rome fell into dust before the irresistible onrush of Islam and the half-starved camel-drivers of Arabia became the leaders and teachers of mankind.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that the faculties of seeing and hearing of disbelievers will become much more keener and sharper on the Day of Judgement, because the veil will be lifted from their eyes and ears and they will realize that they were in the wrong; but that realization being too late will prove to be of no use to them.

Commentary:

The verse signifies that disbelievers suffer from one or all of the three spiritual diseases or that some of them suffer from one disease and others from other diseases.

In fact, the three main things that stand in the way of a man’s spiritual progress and retard and arrest it, are doubt, fear and envy. These must be conquered before any real and substantial progress is possible.

11:13; 17:94.

17:48.

Commentary:

The objection which was begun in the preceding verse is continued in the verse under comment. "The Prophet," the disbelievers say, "should have possessed treasures of wealth which he should have distributed among his followers. He should also have had other accessories of greatness in the form of gardens and fountains. But he has none of these things. He seems to be a bewitched, or, at best a self-deceived man, a man who lives in a world of his own imagination, in a fool’s paradise."

68:12; 104:2.

Important Words:

لا تلمزوا (defame not) is derived from لمز. They say لمزہ i.e. he made a sign to him with the eye, or the like, as the head, and the lip, with low speech. This is the original signification; according to some other authorities the primary signification of the expression is: (1) he pushed him or impelled him or repelled him or he struck or beat him; (2) he blamed, upbraided, or reproached him; he found fault with him; or he did so in his face; or he spoke evil of him; or spoke of him in a manner that he disliked, mentioning vices or faults as chargeable to him, either behind his back or in his face, though it might be with truth (Lane, Aqrab & Raghib). See also 104:2.

لا تنابزوا (call not by nicknames) is derived from نبز which means, he called him by a surname or nick-name and is syn. with لقبه (laqqaba), mostly signifying, he called him by a nickname, or a name of reproach or an opprobrious appellation. It also signifies, he upbraided or reproached him; or the like, being syn. with لمزہ (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

See next verse.

4:145; 5:52.

Commentary:

See preceding verse.