*1. This introductory statement carries a subtle note of warning. For the unbelievers, out of their sheer stupidity looked upon the Qur'an which was presented to them by the Prophet (peace be on him) as merely a literary masterpiece, an embodiment of spellbinding poetic imagination, a fascinating discourse on a very sublime, illusive plane in the manner of soothsayers. The unbelievers are told that such notions are pure misconceptions. On the contrary, the Qur'anic verses are part of a Book which abounds in wisdom. Hence, if they disregard the Qur'an, they are merely depriving themselves of a treasure-house of wisdom.
 

*2. The unbelievers are asked why they are astonished that a human being has been designated to warn other human beings. Would it have been reasonable to designate some angel Jinn or animal rather than a human being to warn other human beings? Similarly, is there anything weird or exotic about the appointment of a Prophet? For if people are found engrossed in error and are oblivious to the truth, what then is truly strange: that their Creator and Lord should make arrangements to guide them or let them continue stumbling in their error? And if Divine Guidance is made available to human beings, does it not stand to reason that it is those who follow, rather than those who reject it, that deserve to be held in honour and esteem? Those who express their astonishment at this should reconsider what it is that truly merits astonishment.
*3. The unbelievers' allegation that the Prophet (peace be on him) is a sorcerer is devoid of even an iota of truth. The mere fact that a person, by dint of his capacity to express himself effectively, influences people and captivates their hearts and minds does not warrant being called a sorcerer. What is worth considering is the purpose for which he employs his oratorical skill, and the kind of influence that his oration has on the audience. Any orator who uses his skill for an evil purpose will naturally be considered a demagogue, an unbridled and irresponsible speaker. For his only interest lies in casting a spell over his audience, even if he might have to resort to making false and exaggerated statements or saying things that are altogether unjust.
The discourse of such speakers is bereft of all wisdom. For all it aims to do is to hoodwink and bamboozle the gullible masses. Such speakers have no coherent set of ideas to offer. What they say is full of contradiction and incoherence. Such speakers lack moderation and lean towards extremism. For their purpose is to prove their capacity to spellbind their audiences by verbal flamboyance or to intoxicate them with inflammatory eloquence in order to pit one group against another. Such oratory is not conducive to moral improvement, and the lives of the audience are by no means reformed. Neither does the eloquence of such speakers bring about any healthy change in the outlook of the audience nor in the quality of their lives. In fact, such eloquence may even have an evil and corrupting influence. In sharp contrast to all this, the Prophet's oration is characterized by wisdom and coherence, balance and moderation of the highest order, and strict adherence to the truth. Each word of the Prophet (peace be on him) is pregnant with purposiveness and manifests a keen sense of proportion. In addition, all his oration is directed to just on e purpose - to guide and reform mankind. In all that he says there is no trace of any concern for worldly interests - personal, familial or national. He only warns people against the evil consequences of their heedlessness and invites them to something that would lead to their own well-being. Furthermore, the effect of the Prophet's oration on his audience is radically different from that of sorcerers. For, all those who accept the Prophet's message undergo a change for the better; their moral conduct improves, and all in all they become oriented to righteousness and benevolence. It was, therefore, for the Prophet's detractors to consider whether sorcerers achieve such results and whether their professional skills are directed towards such noble purposes.
 

*4. There is no reason to believe that after having created everything God chose to consign Himself to the limbo of unconcern. On the contrary, after His great act of creation He established Himself on the Throne and holds the reins of the entire universe so that He not only reigns but in fact also effectively rules over the universe. The Qur'an considers it a colossal error - an error to which the ignorant have succumbed - to believe that after creating the universe God either left it to run on its own, or entrusted its affairs to others to govern it as they please. On the contrary, the Qur'an emphasizes that it is God Who is directing all the affairs of His creation; that all power effectively rests with Him alone. The Qur'an constantly drives home the point that God alone has all authority so that all that takes place in the universe or in any part of it takes place by His command or His leave. God's relationship with the universe is not simply that He created it; rather the reins of the universe are with Him and He is in effective and continual control of its affairs. It is He alone Who keeps the universe in existence and it is He alone Who directs it as He pleases. {See Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. III, al-A'raf, nn. 41-2, pp. 33-4.)
*5. No one is in a position to interfere with God in His governance of the universe, or has the power to effectively intercede with God on anyone else's behalf and to prevail upon Him to change any of His decisions. Nor is anyone in such a position of power with God that his intercession would make or unmake anyone else's destiny. The utmost that a person can do is to pray to God. However, the acceptance or non-acceptance of such prayers rests solely with Him. No one is so powerful that his desire will, of necessity, always prevail with God, nor does anyone's intercession bind God to act according to the former's desire.
*6. After emphasizing the given fact of God's lordship in the first part of the verse, man is now informed of its logical consequences. Since all authority rests solely with God, it is incumbent upon man to serve Him exclusively. God's lordship embraces the three-fold attributes of His being
(i) the Sustainer,
(ii) the Master, and
(iii) the Sovereign.
In like manner, the term 'ibadah embraces the three-fold corresponding implications that man should
(i)worship,
(ii) serve, and
(iii) obey God.
*7. Since man has been informed of the fundamental truths and has been shown the right way, there is no justification for him to remain engrossed in those false conceptions which have caused him to act in a manner altogether inconsistent with the reality.
 

*8. The Prophet's teachings comprise two fundamental doctrines: (i) that God alone is man's Lord and hence man should worship Him, and (ii) that man is bound to return to his Lord in the Next Life wherein he will be made to render an account to his Lord. This particular verse focuses on the second of these two doctrines.
*9. This Qur'anic statement combines the enunciation of a basic doctrine with its supporting argument. The doctrine that is being enunciated here is that God will resurrect man. This is supported by the argument that it is God Who brought about the creation in the first place. All those who believe that the original creation was an act of God can neither consider it impossible nor
*10. The present verse sets forth the rationale of resurrection. The preceding verses had conclusively established that resurrection is possible, that there is no reasonable ground to dub it as a far-fetched idea. Drawing upon the above, the verse under consideration points out that the requirements of justice and reason can only be fulfilled by resurrection, and that this calls for a repetition of the original act of creation by God.
The point that is being made here is that those who accept God as their One and the Only Lord and truly live in service and devotion to Him deserve to be fully rewarded for their righteous conduct. Likewise, those who reject the truth and act according to their own whim deserve to be duly punished for their unrighteous conduct. The present life is so constituted that reward and punishment are not being meted out and cannot be meted out in the manner described above. This is a plain fact, and one which is evident to all except those who are obstinate, This being the case, reason and justice demand fresh creation in order that such reward and punishment be meted out. (For further
 

 

*11. This provides yet another argument in support of the doctrine of the Hereafter. The argument is derived from the orderly nature of the universe. This vast universe - the handiwork of God - is spread out before our eyes. It is full of signs of God's power and wisdom such as those which underlie the sun and the moon and the alternation of night and day. Even a superficial glance at the universe is enough to convince one that the Creator of this enormous universe is not at all like a child who creates something to play with and after enjoying it for a while whimsically destroys it. For it is quite evident that every act of the Creator is characterized by order and wisdom, and that a strong purposiveness underlies everything, even a speck of dust. Now, since the Creator is All-Wise - as is evident from His creation - it is absurd to assume that He Who has also invested man with reason, moral consciousness and free-will, will not call man to account for his conduct; that He will altogether disregard the need for retribution arising from man's responsibility which in turn stems from his inherent rational and moral endowments.
Apart from expounding the doctrine of the Hereafter, the above verses also adduce the following three arguments in support of that doctrine:
First, a persuasive case is made out in support of the possibility of a second life. The basis of the argument is that the creation of man in the first instance is indicative of God's creative power. (There is no reason to believe that God has become bereft of that power of creation, and hence would be unable to create man afresh - Ed.) Second, the Next Life is needed in order that man might be rewarded or punished in consideration of his performance, whether good or bad. Both justice and reason seem to call for a new life wherein everyone would be able to see, in a fair manner, the consequence of his deeds.
Third, that the Next Life, which is a requirement of justice and reason, will certainly come to pass. This is because the Creator, Who created man and the universe, is All-Wise, and it is inconceivable that such a Being will not respond to an unmistakable requirement of justice and reason.
After careful consideration it appears that the above are the only possible arguments that might be adduced and they suffice to establish that there is life after death. The only possible question that remains, after having established that the Next Life is demanded by both reason and justice, and also that it is a requisite of God's wisdom, is whether it is possible to visually observe the Next Life in the manner in which people observe other objects. Now it should he clearly understood that this inability will remain during the present phase of existence. The reason for it is that God asks man to believe in cerium truths and such a demand in respect of objects which can be observed with human eyes would be utterly meaningless. The test to which man has been put consists precisely of this; whether man can affirm certain truths which belong to the suprasensory realm by the use of his rational faculties.
Another point which has been stated in this context also deserves serious consideration. This is embodied in the following Qur'anic statement: 'He expounds His signs for the people who know' (Yunus 10: 5);'. . . and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth there are signs for the people who seek to avoid (error of outlook and conduct)' (Yunus 10: 6). This means that God in His infinite wisdom has seen to it that in the multifarious phenomena of existence there should be plenty of signs which betoken the hidden realities underlying that phenomena. However, not all men will be able to benefit from those signs. Those who will be able to benefit are those
(i) who liberate themselves from prejudices and seek knowledge with the help of the natural endowments bestowed upon them by God. and
(ii) those who are Keen not to fall into error and who earnestly seek to adhere to the right way.
 

 

*12. Here again a doctrine has been put forth along with its supporting argument. (For another such instance seen. 9 above-Ed.)The statement that is being made here is that rejection of the doctrine of the Hereafter necessarily entails the punishment of Hell, and the argument that is being proffered in support of it is that those who are oblivious to the Hereafter commit, because of their disbelief in it, evil deeds which can only lead to them suffering the torments of Hell. This argument is corroborated by the entire record of man's past. It is quite clear that the lives of those who do not believe that they, will not be held to account by God for their deeds; who work on the assumption that life is merely confined to the span of worldly existence; who measure human success or failure only in terms of the extent of material comfort, fame and power that a person is able to enjoy: who under the influence of such materialistic notions do not even care to pay attention to those signs of God which point to reality, assume an altogether wrong direction with the result that their life is vitiated. Hence they live a totally unbridled life, develop the worst possible character traits, and fill God's earth with injustice and corruption, with sin and transgression, and ultimately end up meriting the punishment of Hell.
It will be seen that whereas the three arguments mentioned earlier were of a theoretical nature the above argument about the Hereafter is drawn from. human experience itself. Although in the present verse the argument is found only in an implicit form, it is spelt out at several other places in the Qur'an. The argument essentially is that unless man's character rests on the consciousness and conviction that he will have to render an account for all his deeds to God, both man's individual and collective behaviour will fail to have sound basis and direction. It would seem, therefore, to be worth asking: why is this so? Why is it that once this consciousness and conviction are altogether ended or greatly enfeebled, the human character turns to iniquity and corruption? Had affirmation of the Hereafter not been in conformity with reality, and conversely, had its denial not been opposed to it, then the evil consequences flowing from the denial of the Hereafter would not have been found with such unfailing regularity. If adherence to a proposition invariably leads to good results, and failure to adhere to it invariably leads to evil consequences, then this definitely proves the proposition to be true.
In an attempt to refute the above argument it is sometimes contended that even atheists who reject the Hereafter and follow a materialistic approach to life often lead lives that are on the whole good and decent, that they hold themselves free from corruption and injustice. Not only that but also that their actual conduct is characterized by righteousness and benevolence. However, only a little reflection will make apparent the fallacy underlying this argument. For if one were to examine any atheistic or materialistic philosophy or ideology one will not find in them any basis for righteous behaviour which draws such lavish praise from so-called 'righteous' atheists. Nor can it be established by logical reasoning that an atheistic philosophy of life provides any incentive to embrace such virtues as truthfulness, trustworthiness, honesty, faithfulness to one's commitment, benevolence, generosity, preferring the interests of others to one's own, self-restraint, chastity, recognition of the rights of others, and fulfilment of one's obligations. The fact is that once God and the Hereafter are relegated to oblivion, the only practicable course left for man is to anchor his morality on utilitarianism. All other philosophical ideas which are expounded are merely theoretical embellishments and have no relevance for man's practical life.
As for utilitarian morality - no matter how hard we might try to broaden its scope - it does not go beyond teaching man that he ought to do that which will yield to him or to his society some worldly benefit. Now since utility is the criterion of all acts, such a philosophy tends to make man cynical, with the result that in order to derive benefits, he will not differentiate between truth and lie; between trustworthiness and treachery; between honesty and dishonesty; between loyalty and perfidy; between observing justice and committing wrong. In short, a person under the spell of utilitarian ideas will be ready to do a thing or its opposite, depending on what serves his interests best. The conduct of the British is illustrative of this stance. It is sometimes contended that though the British have a materialistic outlook on life and generally do not believe in the Hereafter, they are more truthful, fairer, and more straightforward and faithful to their commitment.
The fact, however, is that the tenuous character of moral values under a utilitarian moral philosophy is amply illustrated by the character of the British.
For their actual conduct clearly shows that they do not consider moral values to have any intrinsic worth. This is evident from the fact that even those values which are held by the British to be good in their individual lives are brazenly flouted when they act as a nation. Had the qualities of truthfulness, justice, honesty and faithfulness to one's committed word been regarded as intrinsic virtues, it would have been altogether out of the question for the elected rulers of Britain to cynically violate all moral principles in governmental and international affairs and yet continue to retain the confidence of the British people. Does such a behaviour of a people who do not take the Hereafter seriously prove that they do not believe in absolute moral values? Does it also not prove that, guided by concern for material interests, such people are capable of following mutually opposed views simultaneously?
Nevertheless, if we do find some people who, in spite of their not believing in God and the Hereafter, consistently adhere to some moral virtues and abstain from evil, there should be no mistaking that their righteous conduct and piety represents the continuing influence which religious ideas and practices have over them - even if unconsciously - rather than their subscription to a materialistic philosophy of life. If they possess any portion of the wealth of morality, there can be no doubt that it was stolen from the treasure-house of religion. It is ironical that such persons are now using the same wealth derived from religious sources, to promote an irreligious way of life. We consider this an act of theft because irreligiousness and materialism are altogether bereft of morality.
 

*13. This Qur'anic statement calls for serious reflection. The sequence of ideas presented here is also quite significant because answers have been systematically provided to a number of highly relevant basic questions. Let us look at these answers in their sequence. Why will the righteous enter Paradise? The answer is: because they have followed the straight way in their worldly life. That is, in all matters and in every walk of life, in all affairs relating to the personal or collective life they have been righteous and have abstained from false ways.
This gives rise to another question: how were the righteous able to obtain a criterion that would enable them to distinguish, at every turn and crossroad of life, between right and wrong, between good and evil, between fair and unfair? And how did they come to have the strength to adhere to what is right and avoid what is wrong? All this, of course, came from their Lord Who bestowed upon them both the guidance which they needed to know the right way and the succour required to follow it. In answer to why their Lord bestowed upon them this guidance and succour, we are reminded that all this was in consideration for their faith.
It is also made clear that this reward is not in lieu of merely a verbal profession to faith, a profession that is no more than a formal acceptance of certain propositions. Rather, the reward is in consideration for a faith that became the moving spirit of a believer's character and personality, the force that led him lo righteous deeds and conduct. We can observe in our own physical lives that a person's survival, state of health, level of energy, and joy of living all depend upon sustenance from the right kind of food. This food, once digested, provides blood to the veins and arteries, provides energy to the whole body and enables the different limbs to function properly.
The same holds true of man's success in the moral domain. It is sound beliefs which ensure that he will have the correct outlook, sound orientation and right behaviour that will ultimately lead to his success. Such results, however, do not ensue from that kind of believing which either consists of a mere profession to faith, or is confined to some obscure corner of man's head or heart. The wholesome results mentioned above can only be produced by a faith which deeply permeates man's entire being, shaping his mental outlook, even becoming his instinct; a faith which is fully reflected in his character, conduct and outlook on life. We have just noted the importance of food. We know that the person who, in spite of eating remains like one who has not partaken of any food, would not be able to enjoy the healthy results that are the lot of the person who has fully assimilated what he ate. How can it be conceived that it would be different in the moral domain of human life? How can it be that he who remains, even after believing, like the one who does not believe, will derive the benefit and receive the reward meant for those whose believing leads to righteous living?
 

*14. This should remove any misconceptions about Paradise which seem to have been formed by some people of frail understanding. Subtly, the verse suggests that when people are admitted to Paradise, they will not instantly pounce upon the objects of their desire as the starved and hungry are wont to do when they observe food. Nor will they frantically go about giving vent to their lusts, impatiently demanding their cherished objects of enjoyment - beautiful women, wine, dissolute singing and music.
The fact is that the men of faith and righteousness who are admitted to Paradise will be those who, during their life in the world, have embellished their lives with sublime ideas and noble deeds, who have refined their emotions, who have oriented their desires in the right direction, and who have purified their conduct and character. Thus, the nobility which they have developed in their personalities will shine in even greater splendour when they set their feet in the pure and clean environment of Paradise. Those same traits which characterized their behaviour in the world will appear with even greater lustre.
The favourite occupation of such people in Paradise will be the same as during their life on the earth - to celebrate the praise of God. Likewise, their relationships in Paradise will be imbued with feelings of mutual harmony and concern for each other's well-being as had been the case in this world.
 

*15. These introductory remarks are followed by a discourse which comprises the admonition and explanation of certain important points. For a fuller appreciation of the discourse, it is better to take note first of the following points about its background.
First, that the prolonged and acute famine which had virtually destroyed the people of Makka had ended just a little before the revelation of these verses. The famine was so severe that even the most arrogant leaders of the Quraysh had been humbled. As a result, idol-worship had declined and people turned increasingly, with prayer and sincere supplication, to the One True God. The famine was so acute that at one stage Abu Sufyan had approached the Prophet (peace be on him) with a request to implore God to deliver them from the calamity. However, no sooner had the famine ended and heavy rains brought about a rich harvest and prosperity than the Makkans reverted to their old evil habits, to their rebellion against God, to their hostile machinations against
Islam. Those who had turned to God for a short while once again became engrossed in their former apathy and wickedness. (See also al-Nahl 16: 113; al-Mu'minun23: 75-7; andal-Dukhan44: 10-16. See also al-Bukhari,Abwab al-lstisqa , Bab idha istashfa'a al-Mushrikun bi al-Muslimin 'ind al-Qaht -Ed.) Second, whenever the Prophet (peace be on him) warned the Makkans of God' s punishment as a consequence of their rejecting the truth, they retorted by asking: why had God's punishment not befallen them there and then? Why was it being delayed?
In response, the Qur'an states that when it comes to punishing human beings God does not resort to the same haste which He resorts to when He wants to show mercy. The Makkans had seen that God had quickly halted the famine when they had prayed for its removal. They thought that if they were considered by God to be an evil people. He would have afflicted them with a calamitous punishment as soon as they had asked for it, or as soon as they engaged in rebellion against God. But that is not God's way. No matter how rebellious a people become, God grants them ample time to make amends. He also warns them over and over again and grants them a long respite. It is only when leniency has run its full course that His law of retribution comes into action. In sharp contrast to this is the attitude of men of low mettle. This is amply reflected in the ways of the rebellious ones among the Quraysh. When they encountered a disaster, they remembered God and bewailed and bemoaned of the same to Him. As soon as hard times were over, however, they forgot everything about God. It is precisely this kind of behaviour by different nations which invites God's punishment.
 

 

*16. In Arabic, the word qarn, which occurs in the above verse, usually denotes 'the people of a given age'. However, the word in its several usages in the Qur'an, connotes a 'nation' which, wielded in its heyday, whether fully or partially, the reins of world leadership. When it is said that a certain nation was 'destroyed' this does not necessarily mean its total annihilation. When any such nation suffers the loss of its ascendancy and leadership, when its culture and civilization become extinct, when its identity is effaced, in fact, when such a nation disintegrates and its component pans become assimilated into other nations, then it is fair to say that it has suffered destruction.
*17. The expression zulm (wrong-doing, injustice) in the above verse has not been used in the limited sense in which it is generally used. Instead, here the word embraces the whole range of sins which consists of man exceeding the limits of service and obedience to God. (For further explanation see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, al-Baqarah, 2, n. 49, p. 64 - Ed.)
 

*18. One should not lose sight of the fact that the immediate addressees of the present discourse were the people of Arabia. Here they are told that all previous nations were granted the opportunity to show their potential to do good. Instead, they took to wrong-doing and rebellion and rejected the message of the Prophets who had been raised solely to guide them. Thus they failed in the test to which they were put by God and were accordingly removed from the scene of history. Now the turn of the Arabs has come and they have also been granted the opportunity to prove their worth. They have also been put to the same test to which the previous nations had been put and in which they had failed. If the people of Arabia want to avoid meeting a similarly tragic fate, they would be well advised to avail themselves of the opportunity granted them, to learn the lessons from the history of the previous nations, and to avoid the mistakes which led to the undoing of many in the past.
 

*19. This statement of the unbelievers was based, first of all, on the misconception that the Qur'an, which the Prophet (peace he on him) presented in them as the 'Word of God'. was in fact a product of his own mind which he had ascribed to God merely to invest it with authority. Moreover, they wanted to impress upon the Prophet (peace he on him) that the contents of his message were of little practical, worldly use. The emphasis on the unity of God, on the Life to Come and on the moral principles which people were asked to follow -all these were of no practical consequence to them. They virtually told the Prophet 'peace be on him. that if he wanted to lead them he should come forth with something that would be of benefit to them and ameliorate their worldly life. And if this was not possible, then he should at least show some flexibility in his attitude which would enable them to strike a compromise with him by effecting mutual accommodation between the Makkan unbelievers and the Prophet (peace be on him) himself
In other words, the Makkans felt that the Prophet's doctrine of God's unity should not totally exclude their polytheism: that his conception of devotion to God should be such as to allow them some scope for their worldliness and self-indulgence; that the call to believe in the Hereafter should be such that it might still be possible for them to behave in the world as they pleased and yet entertain the hope of somehow attaining salvation in the Next World. Likewise, the absolute and categorical nature of moral principles enunciated by the Prophet (peace be on him) was also unpalatable to them. They wanted moral principles to be propounded in a manner that would provide concessions to their predilections and biases, to their customs and usages, to their personal and national interests, and to the lusts and desires that they wished to satisfy.
In effect, they suggested a compromise according to which one sphere of life should be earmarked as 'religious', and in this sphere men should render to God what rightfully belongs to Him. Beyond this sphere, however, it should be left to people's discretion to run their worldly affairs as they pleased, It seemed altogether outrageous to them that the doctrines of the unity of God and accountability in the Hereafter should embrace the whole gamut of human life, and that man should be asked to subject himself entirely to the Law of God.
*20. This is the Prophet's response to what has been said above (see n. 19 above). It is made clear that the Prophet (peace be on him) was not the author of the Qur'an; and that since it had only been revealed to him, he had no authority therefore to make any alteration in it whatsoever. It is also made clear that the question was not one that could be the subject of any bargain. The unbelievers should either accept the faith propounded by the Prophet (peace be on him) in toto or reject it in toto.
 

*21. This is indeed a very weighty argument in refutation of the unbelievers' allegation that the Prophet (peace be on him) had himself authored the Qur'an and subsequently ascribed it to God. So far as other arguments are concerned, they might be considered as somewhat remote. But the argument based on the life and character of the Prophet (peace be on him) was particularly weighty since the Makkans were thoroughly familiar with the whole of his life. Before his designation as a Prophet, he had spent a full forty years in their midst. He was born in their city. They had observed his childhood, and then his youth, and it was in their city that he had reached his middle age. He had also had a variety of dealings with them. He had had social interaction, business transactions, matrimonial ties, and relationships of every conceivable nature with his people so that no aspect of his life was hidden from their view. Could there be a more powerful testimony to the truth of his claim to prophethood than his blameless life and character?
Two things about the life of the Prophet (peace be on him) were especially clear and were quite well known to all Makkans. First, that during the forty years of his life before his designation as a Prophet, he had received no instruction from, or even enjoyed the company of learned people which could have served as the source of the ideas which began to flow, as would a stream, from his lips as soon as he claimed, at the age of forty, that he had been designated as a Prophet. Before that he was never seen to have been concerned with the problems, or to have discussed the subjects, or to have expressed the ideas which frequently recur in the Qur'an. In fact none of his closest friends and relatives had foreseen in his pre-Prophetic life any signs indicative of the great message which he suddenly started to preach at the age of forty. These pieces of evidence, taken together, provide incontrovertible evidence that the Qur'an is not a product of the Prophet's mind; that it had come to the Prophet (peace be on him) from without. For no human being can produce something for which traces of growth and evolution are not found in the earlier period of his life.
This explains the fact that when some of the more crafty Makkan unbelievers realized the sheer absurdity of their allegation that the Prophet (peace be on him) was the author of the Qur'an, they chose to propagate that there must be some other person who had taught the Prophet (peace be on him) the Qur'an. Such a statement, however, was even more preposterous since they failed to convincingly point out who that other person was who was the true source of the Qur'an. Even leaving aside Makka, the fact is that there was not a single person throughout the length and breadth of Arabia who possessed the competence needed for the authorship of the Qur'an. Had such an extraordinary person existed, how could he have remained hidden from the sight of others?
Second, the pre-Prophetic life of Muhammad (peace be on him) clearly shows him to be a man of exceptionally high moral character for there was not the least trace of any evil - whether lies, deceit, vile cunning or trickery. On the contrary, all those who came into contact with the Prophet (peace be on him) were impressed by him as a person of flawless character, as one utterly truthful and trustworthy.
An illustration in point is the incident related in connection with the re-building of the Ka'bah five years before his designation as a Prophet. There was a serious dispute between the various families of the Quraysh on the question as to who should have the privilege of placing the Black Stone in its place in the edifice of the Ka'bah, In order to reach an amicable accord, they resolved that they would abide by the ruling given by the first person who entered the Ka'bah the following day. The next day people saw it was the Prophet (peace be on him) who was the first to enter. They exclaimed: 'Here is a trustworthy man (amin). We agree [to follow his ruling]. He is Muhammad.' (Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat, vol. 1, p. 146 - Ed.) Thus, before designating
Muhammad (peace be on him) as a Prophet, God had the whole body of the Quraysh testify to his trustworthiness. No room was left, therefore, for suspecting that he who had never resorted to lying or deceit throughout his life would suddenly resort to fabricating a gigantic lie; that he would first compose something, then deny that it was his work, and would then ascribe it to God.
In view of the above, God directs the Prophet (peace be on him) to ask the unbelievers to use their brains before levelling such a stupid allegation against him. For the Prophet (peace be on him) was after all no stranger to them; he had spent virtually a whole lifetime in their midst. In view of the well-known and uniformly high level of his conduct and character, how could it even be conceived that he would falsely ascribe the Qur'an to God if God had not actually revealed it to him. (For further elaboration see al-Qasas 28, n. 109.)
 

*22. If the verses of the Qur'an were in fact not from God but had been composed by the Prophet (peace be on him) who then claimed them to be from God, the Prophet would be guilty of the worst kind of wrong. But if, on the contrary, the Qur'an was the word of God, those who rejected it as false must be regarded as the worst kind of wrong-doers.
*23. The Qur'anic term falah (prosperity, success) used in the above verse has been understood by some to signify such things as longevity, worldly prosperity and other worldly attainments. Under this false impression, they tend to believe that if a claimant to prophethood attains material prosperity and longevity or if his message is spread around, then he ought to be considered a genuine Prophet because he has indeed attained 'prosperity'. Had he been an impostor, it is argued, he would soon have been assassinated, or would have starved to death, and, in any case, his message would not have spread around. Such an absurd line of argument can only be pursued by those who are altogether ignorant of the concept of falah (prosperity) as envisaged in the Qur'an, who are unaware of God's law of respite regarding evil-doers, and who are altogether unappreciative of the special meaning in which the term has been employed in the present context.
In order to fully understand what is meant by saying that 'the guilty shall not prosper', a number of things ought to be borne in mind. In the first place, the Qur'anic statement that "the guilty shall not prosper' is not made with a view to providing a yardstick that might be applied by people so as to determine the truth or falsity of the claimants of prophethood. The verse does not seek to stress that all those who 'prosper' after claiming to be a Prophet are truly Prophets, and that those who do not prosper after making such a claim are not so. The point of emphasis here is altogether different. Here the Prophet (peace be on him) is being made to say that since he knows fully that those guilty of inventing lies against Allah could not prosper, he would not dare make any claim to prophethood if such a claim was false.
On the other hand, the Prophet (peace be on him) also knew that the unbelievers were guilty of rejecting the true signs of God and of declaring a true Prophet of God to be an impostor. In view of that monstrous guilt, it was quite apparent to the Prophet (peace be on him) that they would not prosper.
Moreover, the Qur'anic term falah (prosperity, success) has not been used in the limited sense of worldly success. Rather, it denotes that enduring success which admits of no failure regardless of whether one is able to achieve success in the present phase of one's existence or not. it is quite possible that someone who calls people to falsehood might enjoy life and nourish in a worldly sense, and he might even be able to attain a substantial following for his message. But this is not true prosperity or success; rather it constitutes total loss and failure. Contrarily, it is also possible that someone who calls people to the truth might be exposed to much persecution and be overwhelmed by pain and suffering. It is possible that even before he is able to create any significant following, he is continually subjected to persecution and torture. In the Qur'anic view, such an apparently tragic end constitutes the very zenith of such a person's success rather than his failure.
Moreover, it should be remembered that it has been amply elucidated in the Qur'an that God does not punish evil-doers instantly: that He rather grants them a fair opportunity to mend their ways. Not only that, if the evil-doers misuse the respite granted by God to perpetrate further wrongs, they are sometimes granted an even further respite. In fact, at times a variety of worldly favours are bestowed upon such evil-doers in order that the potential for wickedness inherent in them might be fully exposed by their actions, proving that they do indeed deserve a very severe punishment. Hence, if an impostor continues to enjoy periods of respite and if worldly favours are lavished upon him this should not in any way give rise to the notion that he is on the right path.
In the same way as God grants respite to other evil-doers. He also grants respite to impostors. There are no grounds whatsoever for believing that the respite granted to other evil-doers would not be granted to those impostors who lay false claim to prophethood. We may well call to mind that Satan himself has been granted a respite until Doomsday, It has never been indicated that although Satan is granted a free hand to misguide human beings, as soon as he throws up an impostor claiming prophethood such a venture is instantly nipped in the bud.
In order to refute the view expressed above it is possible that someone may refer to the following verse of the Qur'an: Now if he [i.e. Muhammad] would have made up, ascribed some sayings to Us, We would indeed have seized him by the right hand, and then indeed would have cut his life-vein (al-Haqqah 69: 44-6).
Even a little reflection makes it obvious that the verse in question does not contradict the view we have expressed above. For, what the present verse says relates to a principle which God follows in dealing with true Prophets. Were any such Prophet to falsely claim something to be a revelation from God, he would instantly be seized by God's wrath. To argue to the contrary that all those who are not seized by God's wrath are necessarily genuine Prophets is simply a logical fallacy devoid of any justification. For the threat of instant Divine wrath embodied in this verse is applicable only to true Prophets, and not to impostors who, like other evil-doers, are granted a respite.
This can be well understood if we bear in mind the disciplinary rules laid down by different governments for their officials. It is obvious that those rules are not enforced in respect of ordinary citizens. Were the latter to lay any false claim to being a government official, he would be subjected to the normal rules of the criminal code relating to the conviction of those who are guilty of fraud rather than to the disciplinary rules meant for government officials. Under this analogy, an impostor who claims to be a Prophet, would be dealt with by God along with other evil-doers who commit evil, and who, as we know, are not necessarily punished immediately.
In any case, as we have pointed out earlier, the verses quoted above were not revealed so as to provide the criterion to judge the truth of anyone who lays claim to prophethood. This verse should not be considered to mean that if a celestial hand stretches forth to cut off the life-vein of a claimant to prophethood, such a person is an impostor; and if that does not happen, he is a genuine Prophet. Such a weird criterion would have been needed only if no other means were available to judge the genuineness of a claimant to prophethood. But as things stand, a Prophet is known by his character, by his work, and by the contents of his message.
 

*24. To say that something is not known to God amounts to saying that it does not exist. For, quite obviously, all that exists is known to God. The above verse thus subtly points out the non-existence of any intercessors on behalf of unbelievers insofar as God does not know that there exist any in the heavens, or on the earth who would intercede on behalf of the unbelievers. That being so, who are those intercessors about whose existence and whose power of intercession with God the unbelievers wanted to inform the Prophet (peace be on him)?
 

*25. For further elaboration see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, al-Baqarah 2, n. 230, pp. 165-6, and ibid., vol. II, al-An 'am 6, n. 24, pp. 228-9 -Ed.
*26. The fact is that God has wilfully kept reality beyond the ken of man's sense-perception. This was done so as to test whether man, by making proper use of his reason, conscience and intuition, is able to find the right way. As a logical corollary of this, God allows those who decide to follow any other way rather than the right one to do so. Had this not been the case, the reality could have been instantly unmasked and that would have put an end to all disagreements relating to the issue.
This statement has been made in order to remove a major misconception. Many people feel disconcerted today, as they felt disconcerted at the time when the Qur'an was revealed, by the fact that there are found different religions in the world and that the followers of each of these are convinced that their religion alone is the true one. People have been puzzled as to how to determine which religion is the right one and which is not.
In this regard, the Qur'anic view which is being articulated here is that multiplicity of religions does not constitute the original state of things, that it is a relatively later development in human history. Initially, all mankind professed a single religion, and that religion was the true one. Later on, people began to disagree regarding the truth and this gave rise to different religions and creeds. Now it is not likely that God would dramatically appear before them and reveal the reality to them directly during the present phase of their worldly existence. For, the very purpose of the present life is to test people. And this test consists of finding out who discovers the reality - even though it is beyond the reach of the senses - with the help of his reason and common sense.
 

*27. The word 'sign' in the verse refers to the proof which supports a person's claim that he is a true Prophet and that his teaching is truly from God. In this connection it ought to be remembered that the demand of the unbelievers that the Prophet (peace be on him) should bring forth some sign to support his claim to be a Prophet was not made with sincerity, Their position was not that of a group of sincere people who were otherwise keen to accept the truth as soon as it became apparent to them, and who were ready to mould their own conduct, habits and social life according to its requirements, and all that they were waiting for was some sign, some proof, that would create in them a genuine conviction. The fact, on the contrary, was that the unbelievers' demand for miraculous signs was merely a pretext which they proffered in order to rationalize their disbelief. For they were sure to reject every sign, regardless of what that sign was, as unconvincing. Since they were hardened unbelievers, they were not prepared at all to accept such unseen truths as the unity of God and the Hereafter which would have led them to give up their
*28. The Prophet's statement conveys the idea that he had faithfully presented to them whatever God had revealed to him. As for the things which had not been revealed to the Prophet (peace be on him) they constitute ghayb (the realm of the unseen). Now, it is only God and none else who can decide whether to reveal any part of the ghayb ('the unseen') or not. Hence, if some people's believing was contingent upon their observing the signs which God had not revealed, then they might as well keep waiting indefinitely for those signs. The Prophet (peace be on him) would also wait and see whether God would yield to their adamant demands for miraculous signs or not.
 

*29. This again alludes to the famine which was referred to earlier in verses 11-12 of the present surah. The unbelievers are virtually being told that it did not behove them to ask for any miraculous sign. For, not long ago they had suffered from a famine during which they had abjured faith in those very deities whom they had earlier considered their intercessors with God. They had seen with their own eyes how their cherished deities had failed them. They had clearly seen the extent of the supernatural powers of those very deities at whose altars they made offerings and sacrifices in the firm belief that their prayers would be answered and their wishes realized. They had seen - and that too in the recent past-that, one of those deities had any power; that all power in fact lay with God alone.
It was because of this experience that they had begun to address all their prayers to God alone. Was all this not enough of a sign to convince the unbelievers about the truth of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him)? And yet, despite clear signs, the unbelievers waxed arrogant. No sooner was the famine over and they were blessed with outpourings of rain which put an end to their misery than they reverted to their unbelief. They also sought to offer a wide variety of fanciful explanations about why the famine had hit them and why they were subsequently delivered from it. They resorted to all this in order that they might rationalize their adherence to polytheistic beliefs and practices and evade believing in the One True God. Quite obviously what good can any miraculous sign be to those who had corrupted their conscience so thoroughly?
*30. It needs to he clearly understood as to what is meant by attributing 'scheming' to God in the present verse. It simply means that if the unbelievers refuse to accept the truth and to alter their conduct accordingly. God will still grant them the respite to go about their rebellious ways. God will also lavish upon them the means of subsistence and other bounties as long as they live. All this will keep them in a state of intoxication. However, whatever thev do during their state of intoxication will be imperceptibly recorded by the angels of God. All this will go on till the very last moments of their lives and then they will be seized by death and will be asked to render an account of their deeds.
 

*31. This particular 'sign' which testifies to the truth of belief in the One True God is innate in human nature and hence can be witnessed by all. However, as long as the means of self-indulgence are plentiful, man tends to forget God and exults in his worldly enjoyment. But as soon as the means which have led him to his worldly efflorescence are gone, even the most die-hard polytheists and atheists begin to appreciate this innate sign testifying that there indeed is a God Who has His firm grip over the universe, and that it is the One True God alone Who is all-powerful and Who holds sway over all that exists. (For details see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. II, al-An 'am 6, n. 29, pp. 231-3-Ed.)
 

 

 

*32. God calls man to the path which would ensure for him his entry into the 'Abode of Peace1 in the Hereafter. The expression Dar al-salam which literally means the 'Abode of Peace', stands for Paradise, whose inhabitants shall be secure against every calamity, loss, sorrow or suffering.
 

*33. Apart from rewarding human beings in proportion to the good deeds that they have done, God also confers upon them, out of His sheer grace and bounty, a reward which is far in excess of their good deeds.
 

*34. The manner in which the evil ones will be treated is quite different from the way in which the righteous will be treated. As we have seen, the reward of the righteous will be far in excess of their good deeds. However, so far as the evil-doers are concerned, their punishment will be strictly in proportion to the evil they have committed, not even an iota more than that. (For further elaboration see a!-Nahl 16, n. 109a.)
*35. This refers to the darkness and gloom that covers the faces of the criminals after they have been seized and after they have lost all hope of escaping God's punishment.
 

*36. The words of the Qur'anic text are **** Some Qur'an- commentators have interpreted these words to signify that God will sunder the relationship that has come to exist in the worldly life between false deities and their polytheistic devotees with the result that one will not show any solicitude to the other. But such an interpretation is not consistent with the Arabic literary usage. According to Arabic usage, the words suggest that God will cause the one to become distinct from the other. It is this sense which is reflected in our translation: '. . . We shall remove the veil of strangeness from among them'. What is meant by this is that false deities and their devotees will confront each other, and it will become quite clear as to what distinguishes one group from the other. The polytheists will come to know those they considered to be their gods, and the false deities will also come to know those who had worshipped them.
 

*37. This shows how the false gods will react to their worshippers. Angels who had been declared gods and goddesses and therefore, worshipped, the jinn, the spirits, the forefathers of yore, the Prophets, and the saints and martyrs who were considered to share with God some of His attributes, will all disavow their devotees. They will tell the latter in quite plain terms that they were not even aware that they were being worshipped; that even if they had been prayed to, called upon or cried out to, or had had offerings or sacrifices made in their name, or who had had reverence, adoration, prostration, rituals or ceremonies performed out of devotion for them, none of these had ever reached them.
 

 

 

*38. Since it is God alone Who has the power to do all that has been mentioned here - the provision of livelihood, the bestowing of vision and hearing, the granting of life and causing death, and since even the unbelievers affirmed that it is Allah alone Who causes all that, then it is obvious that He alone deserves to be held as the true Lord, Provider and Master of man, and hence the Only One Who deserves to be worshipped. How, then, can any others than Allah - those who have no share in any of the things mentioned above - be considered to have any share in His Lordship?
*39. Addressing the generality of the unbelievers, the Qur'an inquires: 'How. then, are you, being turned away?' The question that is posed here makes it clear that it is not the unbelievers themselves who are guilty of turning away, rather they are being made to turn away from the right way and that this is happening under the influence of some person or group who is engaged in misleading people, It is for this reason that in effect people are being asked: 'Why should they go about blindly following those who are out to mislead people? Why should they not use their brains and think for themselves why they are being turned in a direction which is contrary to reality?'
This mode of questioning, with some modifications, appears on a number of occasions in the Qur'an. On all such occasions the question has been asked in the passive voice. This was presumably to avoid a pointed reference to those who were actually engaged in misleading people. This should make it possible for people who had held these leaders of misguidance in considerable esteem to consider the matter dispassionately. Such a mode should also spare them any provocation that might impair their capacity to think about the issue coolly. For it is quite obvious that pointed references to specific persons might have been exploited so as to provoke people by pointing out that their venerated forefathers and religious mentors were being maliciously criticized and attacked.
This manner of address - the use of the passive rather than the active voice and the avoidance of pointed references to specific persons as the ringleaders of misguidance and mischief - embodies a valuable piece of wisdom for those who seek to invite others to accept the Message of Islam.
 

*40. Even though God's Message has been elaborated with the help of clear and easy-to-understand arguments, those who have already made up their minds against it will continue in their stubbornness and will simply refuse to accept it.
 

*41. The unbelievers did acknowledge that God alone had brought everything into existence in the first instance, that none of those who had been associated with God in His divinity had any part in it. As for resurrection, which simply amounts to repeating the initial act of creation, it is quite evident that He Who has the power to create, also has the power to repeat; anything else would be inconceivable. All this is so reasonable and clear that in their heart of hearts even rank polytheists were convinced of its truth. Yet they were hesitant to affirm it for if they did so, it would make it difficult for them to deny the existence of the Hereafter.
It is for this reason that in response to the earlier question (see verse 31 above) it has been mentioned that the unbelievers acknowledge that God alone brought about the creation. But with regard to the question of repeating that creation, it is the Prophet (peace be on him) who has been asked here to proclaim that it is God alone Who brought about the original creation and it is He Who will create again.
*42.The unbelievers are being asked to see reason. For on the one hand they themselves recognize that it is Allah alone Who causes their birth and death, and on the other, they are being misdirected by their so-called religious leaders into believing that they ought to worship and adore others than Allah.
 

*43. This verse raises an important issue which should be grasped well. Man's necessities in his worldly life are not confined to subsistence, to the provision of shelter and clothing, to protection from calamities, hardships and losses. Man also needs something else, and this is his direst need. This is the need to know how to live in the world; how he should relate with himself and the powers and potentialities with which he has been endowed; how he should relate with the resources of the world which have been placed under his control, with the innumerable human beings with whom he comes into contact, and with the order of the universe as a whole within which, willy-nilly, he has to operate.
Man needs to know all this so as to ensure the achievement of overall success in his life and to see to it that his energies and efforts do not count for naught. To ensure that his energies and efforts are not misdirected or employed in a manner that would lead to his destruction. This right way - the way that provides guidance concerning all the above questions -constitutes 'the truth', and the guidance which directs man to this truth is 'the true guidance'. Now. the Qur'an asks the unbelievers, who had rejected the Prophet's Message, whether any of their deities whom they worshipped besides God, could direct them to 'the truth".1 The answer to this question is obviously in the negative. In order to understand this it must be remembered that the deities they worshipped besides God can be divided into two broad categories;
1. The first category consists of the gods and goddesses, and those living or dead persons, whom people worship. People turn to them believing that they are capable of satisfying their needs in a supernatural way and of protecting them from calamities. But as far as guiding people to the right way is concerned, it is quite obvious that false gods had never provided any such guidance. Even the worshippers of those gods had never sought such guidance from them, nor did the polytheists ever claim that those gods taught them anything relating to morality, social conduct, culture, economy, polity, law and justice.
2. The second category consists of those outstanding people who lay down the principles and laws which others follow. Such persons are doubtlessly leaders of others. But are they really those who lead people to the truth? Does the knowledge of any of those leaders encompass all that needs to be known in order to lay down sound principles for the guidance of mankind? Do any of them possess the breadth of vision that takes into account the whole gamut of issues relating to human life? Can any one of them claim to be free of those biases, those personal or national pre-occupations, those interests and desires, inclinations and predilections which prevent people from laying down perfectly just laws for human society? As it is, since the answer to these questions is in the negative - and .since the answer of any sensible person to these questions could never be in the positive - how can any of those human beings be considered to be dependable sources of guidance to the truth?
It is for this reason that the Qur'an asks people whether any of their gods could lead them to the truth? This question, combined with the previous ones, helps man to arrive at a definitive conclusion concerning the whole question of religion. If one were to face the question with a clear mind, it is evident that man stands in dire need of One to Whom he could look up to as his Lord; One in Whom he could seek refuge and Whose protection he could solicit; One Who might answer his prayer and grant his supplication; One to Whom. notwithstanding the undependable nature of the worldly means of support, he could turn to for effective help and support. The questions posed above inevitably lead to the conclusion that this need can be met by none other than God.
In addition, man also stands in need of a guide who might teach him the principles of righteous conduct, who might teach him the laws that he might follow with full confidence. Even here it is quite clear that God alone can meet this need of man. Once these matters become clear, there remains no justification to adhere either to polytheistic religions or to secular principles of morality. culture and polity.
 

*44. Those who, in disregard of God's guidance, invented religions, developed philosophies and prescribed laws to govern human life did not do this with the help of any definite knowledge that they possessed; rather, it would be the result of their conjecture and fancy. Likewise, those who followed their religious and worldly leaders did so not because they fully knew and fully understood all that the latter espoused. Rather, they followed those leaders merely on the gratuitous assumption that whatever was being taught by those great people, and whatever had been recognized as 'right1 by their own forefathers, must indeed be true.
 

*45.The statement that it is 'a confirmation of the revelation made before it' underscores that the Qur'an lays no claim of introducing anything novel, of coming forth with any innovation at variance with the fundamental teachings already communicated to man through the Prophets (peace be on them). The Qur'anic claim merely consists of confirming and authenticating those teachings. Had the Qur'an been the product of the imagination of the founder of an altogether new religion, the outcome of a creative brain, it would have borne traces of novelty in order to emphasize its distinctiveness.
The second part of the statement, namely that the Qur'an is a 'detailed exposition of the Book' is equally significant. What this means is that the Qur'an elaborates those fundamental teachings which constitute the core and essence of all the scriptures (al-Kitab); that is, those teachings which have been sufficiently elucidated in the Qur'an so that they might be grasped by people and penetrate their hearts; and additionally, it has been shown how those teachings could be applied to practical life.
 

*46.It is generally believed that the challenge embodied in this verse has a reference merely to the eloquence, rhetoric and other literary qualities of the Qur'an. Were one to read the writings of Muslim scholars in connection with the explanation of this verse, it is not surprising that people should entertain such a misunderstanding.
However, the Qur'an is far above claiming its uniqueness and inimitability merely on the grounds of its literary merits. Although there can be no doubt about the literary excellence of the Qur'an, the main ground on which it is claimed that no human being could produce a book like it has to do with its contents and teaching. The Qur'an alludes, in many places, to those characteristics of its inimitability which could not have been conferred upon it by man, thus hinting that those characteristics could have no other source but God Himself. We have explained, in the course of this work, all such allusions in the Qur'an. In order to avoid repetition, we would like at this stage to avoid engaging in any discussion on that subject. (For further explanation see al-Tur 52, nn. 26-7.)
 

*47. There can only be two justifiable grounds for those who wish to reject the Qur'an as a false scripture: either they should have definite knowledge to the effect that it is a fabrication or they should be able to demonstrate that the statements made by, or the information contained in it, are false. But as things stand, neither of these two reasons is available. For none can contend, on the basis of definite knowledge, that the Book had been authored by someone who, in his turn, falsely attributed it to God. Nor has anyone been able to penetrate the realms of the suprasensory world and claim, on that basis, that they know for sure that this Book contains false information; that whereas in fact there are several gods, this Book claims that there is none other than the One God; that all its statements about matters such as the existence of God and angels are counter to reality. Nor has anyone returned to life after having suffered death to contend that the Qur'anic statement about the reckoning and reward and punishment in the Next Life is false. Those who continue to decry the Qur'an as false are in fact doing so merely on grounds of conjecture, even though they do this with an air of confidence which at times creates the impression that statements about the fakeness and falsity of the Qur'anic teachings are scientifically established facts.
 

*48. The statement that 'Your Lord knows best the mischief-makers' underscores art important fact about unbelievers. Those unbelievers could certainly silence others into not carrying the discussion any further by openly admitting that they had failed to grasp the teaching of the Qur'an and hence it was not possible for them to sincerely believe in it. God, however, is well aware even of the things that are hidden, even those that are in the deepest recesses of their hearts and minds. He knows how each person has sealed his mind and heart against accepting any truth; how he has sought to immerse himself in heedlessness; how he has managed to suppress his conscience; how he has prevented the testimony of the truth from affecting his heart; how he has destroyed the innate capacity of his mind to accept the truth; how he has heard the call of the truth and has turned a deaf ear to it; and how, despite his ability to understand the Message of God, he has made no effort to do so. Such people cherish their biases and prejudices, their lusts and desires, their worldly advantages and the interests which can be procured only by supporting falsehood, much more than by accepting the truth. Such people can hardly be considered to have innocently succumbed to a 'mistake'. On the contrary, they are rank 'mischief-makers'.
 

*49. Since every individual is himself accountable for his deeds, there is no point in engaging in unnecessary discussions which are often actuated by obduracy. For if the Prophet (peace be on him) was indeed inventing lies, he would bear the evil consequence of such an action. On the other hand, if his opponents were denying the truth, their action will not hurt the Prophet (peace be on him), but rather hurt themselves.
 

*50. In its most elementary sense even animals are possessed of the faculty of hearing. But 'hearing' in its true sense is applicable only when the act of hearing is accompanied with the attention required to grasp the meaning of what one hears, and with the readiness to accept it if it is found reasonable. Those who have fallen prey to prejudices, who have made up their minds that they will not hear, let alone accept anything, howsoever reasonable it might be, if it goes against their inherited beliefs and behaviour-patterns, or is opposed to living a life of heedlessness, as the animals do, or who focus all their attention on the gratification of their palate, or who recklessly pursue their lusts in total disregard of all consideration of right and wrong may also be rightly characterized as incapable of hearing. Such people are not deaf of hearing, but their minds and hearts are certainly deaf to the truth.
 

*51. The import of the statement is substantially the same as that made above. The limb called the 'eye' is of little service if it serves no other purpose than that of observation. For the eye, as an instrument of observation, is also available to animals and they use it solely for that purpose. What is of true worth is the mental eye which ought to enable man to see not only that which is apparent and evident, but also that which is beyond that. If a man is not possessed of this mental eye - which is the true eye - then even though he might be able to observe in the literal sense of the word, he cannot be considered to be one who truly sees.
Both these verses are addressed to the Prophet (peace be on him). But it is to those whom he wanted to reform rather than directly to himself that the reproach was directed. Moreover, the purpose of the statement is not just to reproach. The pinching sarcasm which has been employed in the statement aims at awakening the slumbering humanity of people so that they may be able to take heed.
The manner of the discourse brings to mind the image of a righteous man who lives in the midst of a corrupt people. He is a man who maintains for himself extremely high standards of character and conduct. At the same time, he attempts, out of sincerity and goodwill, to awaken his fellow-beings to realize the low depths to which they have sunk. He also seeks to explain to them, out of sincere concern for them, how evil their ways of life are. And above all, he highlights for them the contours of the right way of life. But the people around him are such that they are neither inspired to righteousness by his practical and righteous example, nor do they pay any heed to his earnest counsel and admonition. The purpose of what has been said here, viz.'... will you, then, make the deaf hear even though they understand nothing?' should be understood in the above context.
This statement resembles the remark of someone who, feeling disgusted when he finds his friend fails to make people hear his earnest exhortations, throws up his hands in exasperation and says: 'Are you not wasting your time, my friend, trying to make the deaf hear, or trying to direct the blind to the right path? The ears that would make them listen to the voice of the truth are sealed; the eyes that could have made them perceive the truth have been blinded.' The purpose of so saying is not to reproach that righteous person for his sincere exhortation nor to prevent him from making his efforts to reform people. What
 

*52. God has generously endowed people with all that is needed to help them distinguish between truth and falsehood - ears, eyes, and hearts. But some people have become virtual slaves to their lusts and are utterly spellbound by the allurements of a worldly life. By so doing, they have caused their eyes to go blind, their ears to become deaf, and have perverted their hearts to such a degree that they have become bereft of the capacity to distinguish between what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong, and have debilitated their conscience to such a degree that it has ceased to have any effect on their lives.
 

*53. A time will come when such people will, on the one hand, come face to face with the infinite life of the Hereafter, and on the other, they will took back at their past worldly life and realize how puny it was as compared to the life ahead. It is then that they will comprehend what folly they have committed by ruining their eternal future for the sake of ephemeral pleasures and benefits in this worldly life.
*54. This refers to the unbelievers' rejection that a time will come when everyone will have to stand before God for His judgement.
 

 

*55. The Qur'anic expression ummah is not to be taken in the narrow sense in which the word 'nation' is used. The word ummah embraces all those who receive the message of a Messenger of God after his advent. Furthermore, this word embraces even those among whom no Messenger is physically alive, provided that they have received his message. All those who, after the advent of a Messenger, happen to live in an age when the teachings of that Messenger are extant or at least it is possible for people to know about what he had taught, constitute the ummah of that Messenger, Besides, all such people will be subject to the law mentioned here (see verse 47 and n. 56). In this respect all human beings who happen to live in the age which commences with the advent of Muhammad (peace be on him) onwards are his ummah and will continue to be so as long as the Qur'an is available in its pristine purity. Hence the verse does not say: 'Among every people there is a Messenger.' It rather says: 'There is a Messenger for every people.'
*56. When the message of a Messenger of God reaches a people the stage is set and they are left with no valid excuse for not believing. Everything has already been done to communicate the truth to these people and so all that remains is to wait for God's decision to inflict His punishment upon them. And so far as God's judgement is concerned, it is marked with absolute justice. All those who obey that Messenger and mend their behaviour are deemed worthy of God's mercy. On the contrary, those who reject his teaching are considered deserving of His punishment, depending on God's will, both in this world and the Hereafter.
 

 

*57. In response to the unbelievers' query, the Prophet (peace be on him) makes it clear that he had never claimed that he himself would come forth with the judgement mentioned above, or that it lay in his power to afflict people with punishment. There was no point, therefore, in asking him when the final judgement against them would come to pass. The warning of punishment had been given by God rather than by the Messenger. Hence it lay only in God's power to decide when His judgement should come to pass, and in which form God would execute His warning to punish unbelievers.
*58. God does not act in haste in judging a people. He does not summarily punish or reward people the very moment they reject or accept a Messenger's call. Instead, God grants a long respite both to individuals and to nations. He once that term - which has been determined by God with full justice - is over, and the individual or nation concerned does not give up its rebellious attitude, God's judgement is enforced. The time for the enforcement of such judgement can never come a moment before or after the time fixed for it by God.
 

 

 

 

 

*59. Throughout their lives the unbelievers denied that they would be resurrected and called to account by God. Considering the Next Life a mere illusion, they wasted their lives on vain pursuits and levelled all kinds of allegations against the Prophets who had forewarned them that the Next Life would inevitably come to pass. All this notwithstanding, a moment will come when they will find themselves face to face with the Next Life. When such a moment comes they will be totally unnerved. In view of their evil deeds, their conscience will intimate to them the end they are going to meet. Speechless and haggard, their hearts will begin to sink out of remorse and regret. Those who had staked their all on vain fancies, and had refused to take any heed of the admonition of their well-wishers, whom else can they blame except themselves for the catastrophe that will confront them?
 

 

 

 

 

 

*60. The word rizq is often used in daily parlance to denote 'eatables'. Hence, many people think that the reproach embodied in the present verse is directed merely against the wrong customs that have come into vogue in that narrow realm of behaviour which is confined to the dining room. It is not only those who are ignorant but also those who are learned about Islam that are victims of this misconception.
However, use of the word rizq in Arabic is not confined to eatables. It is used in a broad sense, and covers all the things that are granted to man by God for his use. Whatever God has conferred on man thus constitutes his rizq, including his offspring. In the works of the branch of knowledge called Asma al-Rijal (which is part of the Hadith Sciences), we find, among the transmitters of traditions, several names such as Rizq, Ruzayq, and Rizq Allah which signify the recipients of God's bounty. In the famous invocative prayer ****. 'O God: Show us the truth and grant us the strength (urzuqna) to follow it', the rizq that a person seeks from God is the strength to follow the truth after God has enabled him to perceive it. Here rizq has been used to mean the conferment of the bounty of knowledge on someone. In a tradition we have been told that Allah sends an angel to the womb of every expectant mother and that he writes down what the rizq, the life-span, and deeds of the to-be-born child are to be (see al-Bukhari, Kitab Bad' al-Khalq, Bad Dhikr al-Mala' ikah -Ed.). It is quite obvious that the word rizq here does not signify merely the eatables that child will receive during its life-lime; it rather signifies the totality of the things that it will receive. We also find the expression ****j in the Qur'an. (See al-Baqarah 2: 3; al-Anfal 8: 3 - Ed.)
It is, therefore, a serious mistake to consider rizq as being confined to the realm of the kitchen and the dining table. Likewise, it is a mistake, and quite a serious one to think that God disapproves only if those rules in the domain of food are broken and does not mind if people do so in other domains of life.
The error that people so commit has very grave consequences. As a result of this misconception, an important principle of Islam has been lost sight of. For it is owing to this misconception that while lawfulness or otherwise in regard to eating and drinking is considered a seriously religious issue, even highly religious people, let alone ordinary Muslims, feel no serious repugnance about the notion that in the collective sphere of life man has the right to lay down the rules of his behaviour. Even the most learned and pious religious scholars feel no revulsion against legislating without reference to God and His Book. Nor do they feel that such legislation is as sharply in conflict with Islam as one's laying down what is lawful and what is unlawful in matters of food and drink.
*61. The purpose of the verse is to make people realize what an enormous act of rebellion people are committing by laying down, of their own accord, the limits that are lawful and those that are unlawful. Are they not conscious of the fact that human beings and all that they possess belong to Allah? If they are conscious of it, how can it be considered justifiable for men to lay down as to how they should use the possessions bestowed upon them by Allah? What would their own opinion be about the servant who claims that he has the full right to lay down the rules for the disposal of his master's property, and who believes that his master has no right to determine anything? Were a person's own servant to make such a claim about his master, how would the latter react to it? As for the servant who goes so far as even to deny that he is a servant or denies that he is answerable to a master, or who denies that the property under his care belongs to his master, he is guilty of an even greater monstrosity, and is beyond the scope of our discussion here. What is being discussed is the case of one who, on the one hand, acknowledges that he is the servant of a master and that the property in his possession has been entrusted to him by the master, and rightfully belongs to the master. Notwithstanding this acknowledgement, the servant claims that he has the right to lay down, independently of the master, the rules for using that properly.
*62. If the master had authorized the servant to use his property as the latter wished and to lay down the rules for so doing as he pleased, the servant, would have been justified in doing so. But do these people really have any evidence to prove that they had been granted any such authorization by their master? Or is it that such a claim was backed by no such authorization? If they do nut have any evidence to produce such an authorization, they are guilty not only of rebellious behaviour, but also of lies and fabrications.
*63. It is indeed an act of utmost favour on the part of the master that he informs his servant of the attitude he should adopt to the master's house and to other belongings and even with regard to his own self as he is able to obtain God's good pleasure and how he would be able to escape his wrath and punishment, But many servants are not sufficiently grateful to their master for this favour. It seems that the right thing would have been for the master to have left his properties at the servant's disposal without informing him of what would lead to reward and what would lead to punishment. He should then have kept a secret watch over his servants and punished those who work contrary to his desire - a desire which had not even been made known to them. The fact is that if the master had put his servants to such a severe test none would have escaped his punishment.
 

*64. The purpose of the statement is to console the Prophet (peace be on him) and to warn his enemies. On the one hand, the Prophet (peace be on him) is being reassured that the resoluteness, diligence and perseverance which characterize his efforts in preaching the truth and attempting to reform people is well known to God. It can hardly be conceived that after entrusting to the Prophet (peace be on him) a perilous task that God would leave him alone, unassisted. God knows full well all what the Prophet (peace be on him) does, and is also well aware of how others behave towards him. At the same time what is being said also constitutes a warning to the Prophet's opponents. If they obstruct the efforts of the Messenger of the truth, of one engaged in reforming mankind out of sincerity and goodwill, there is no reason for them to assume that no one is observing their deeds, or that they will never be called to account. They ought to take heed for all their deeds are being duly recorded on the Divine Scroll.
 

 

 

 

 

 

*65. What is being said here in a summary fashion requires some elaboration. The statement refers to philosophical inquiry which aims atdiscovering the reality underlying the physical phenomena of the universe. All those who do not look up to revelation in order to know what such reality is, have to fall back, willy-nilly, on philosophical inquiry. Whether a person ends up with atheism, polytheism or monotheism, he perforce has recourse to philosophical inquiry of some sort in order to arrive at some conclusion about reality. Likewise, the worth of the religious doctrines propounded by the Prophets can also be determined by resort to philosophical reflection after which a person is likely to arrive at some conclusion as to whether the reality to which the physical phenomena allude makes any sense or not. The soundness of the conclusion at which a person arrives totally depends, however, on the soundness of the method of philosophical inquiry that is adopted. If the method is sound, so would the conclusion be; and vice versa.
Let us now examine the methods that were adopted by different groups in this pursuit. Of these, the method used by the polytheists is based on superstition. As for the gnostic and ascetic hermits, even though they flaunt meditation as their characteristic method and claim their ability to penetrate the reality that lies beyond the phenomenal veil, their quest is based merely on conjecture. Likewise, what they claim to have observed is actually a product of their fancy. Swayed by it, they mistake their fancies for the truth.
Now, philosophers are guided in their quest for reality by speculation which, it would seem, is nothing less than conjecture. But realizing that their conjecture has no respectable ground upon which to stand, philosophers provide the crutches of logical reasoning and phoney rationalism to support their quest, and give it the imposing title of philosophical inquiry.
Then we come across scientists. In their own field, they resort to scientific methods of inquiry, but as soon as they enter the realm of the metaphysical, they abandon this method and proceed with guesswork and conjecture. The outlook of all these groups is impaired, afflicted with bias and prejudice of one sort or another. This makes them impervious to everything which is alien to them with the net result that they cling adamantly to their cherished ways. The Qur'an brands this kind of intellectual quest as essentially fallacious. It tells such people that the real cause of their malady is guesswork and conjecture in their pursuit of reality, and that they do not heed the reasonable counsel of others because of their deep-seated prejudices. The result is not only are they incapable of independently grasping reality, but their prejudice renders them incapable of arriving at any sound judgement regarding it even when it is expounded by the Prophets.
In sharp contrast to these fallacious methods, the Qur'an lays down an altogether different method to guide men in their quest of reality. This requires, first of all, that one should heed with open ears and consider with open minds the statements of those who claim to be expounding their doctrine about reality not on the basis of speculation or conjecture, nor on the basis of meditation or intuitive conviction, but on the basis of 'knowledge'. They should then proceed to consider the phenomena which form a part of man's observation or experience of the universe (called ayat - signs - in the Qur'anic parlance); to systematize all that they come to know in this manner and to seriously reflect whether the phenomena seem to testify to the reality underlying the phenomena to which these people [i.e. the Prophets] have drawn their attention. If one finds sufficient grounds to affirm the truths propounded by the Prophets, why on earth should anyone contradict such truths? In our view, this very method is the basis of the philosophy of Islam and it is regrettable that even Muslim philosophers abandoned it and set out to follow in the footsteps of Plato and Aristotle.
Not only does the Qur'an urge people, over and over again, to follow this method, but by frequently drawing attention to the physical phenomena and then showing how right conclusions can be derived from them, it also seems to train them to follow this method. Were one to consider even the present verse by way of example one would encounter reference to a couple of physical phenomena - night and day. The alternation of day and night is the outcome of an absolutely precise and well-regulated movement of the earth around the sun. This is an incontrovertible sign of the existence of an all-encompassing controller, of an all-powerful Lord Whose dominion embraces the whole universe. This alternation of day and night is also indicative of the infinite wisdom and purposiveness of the Creator since a lot of creatures of the earth depend upon it. This alternation is also indicative of the Providence, Mercy and Lordship of the Creator since it is evident that He Who has created all beings on earth has also made arrangements to cater to all their requirements.
What this unmistakably proves is that the Creator is the One Who fully controls the entire universe and that far from being arbitrary and capricious. He is Wise. His actions also go to show that in view of His benevolence and providence He alone deserves to be served and worshipped. Also, this alternation of day and night clearly reveals that anything which is subject to the system of alternation of night and day is a servant and not the Lord. All this being the testimony of the natural phenomena, how can it ever be entertained that the religious doctrines developed by polytheists on the basis of their guesswork and conjecture have even a shred of legitimacy?
 

*66. In the preceding verses, the polytheists were reproached for basing their religious doctrines on guesswork and conjecture, and then failing to examine, on scientific grounds, whether those doctrines were backed up by any supporting proof or not. In this verse, the Christians and followers of some other religions are being taken to task for another error - for their designating someone, again by resort to sheer conjecture, as God's son.
*67. This Arabic expression ***** is used both in its literal sense and also by way of exclamation. As an exclamatory expression it emphasizes one's utter amazement about God. In its literal sense, it signifies that God is free of every defect and flaw. The above verse in question employs both meanings. For, apart from expressing amazement at the notion that God took someone as His son, it also stresses the perfection, the absolute flawlessness of God. Since God is perfect and flawless, how does it make any sense to say that He took someone as His son?
*68. In refuting the notion that God took anyone as His son, three arguments are advanced:
(i) God is free of all defects;
(ii) God is All-Sufficient; and
(iii) all that is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to Him.
A brief elucidation of these statements will enable one to appreciate the meaning and significance of what is being said here. To be a son can have only two meanings: either he has sprung from his father's loins, that is, he is his father's son in the true sense of the term, and thus of his father's loins, or that he is not a son in the literal sense of the word but has merely been adopted as such. Now, if someone is considered to be a son of God in its true, literal sense, that would obviously amount to considering God akin to a mortal. Like any other mortal, God is conceived to belong to one gender or the other, and to stand in need of a spouse, and of some sort of conjugal relationship to enable the birth of offspring, and thus to ensure the continuity of his progeny. Alternatively, God is believed to have adopted someone as His son. Such a statement could either mean that God is akin to that issueless human who resorts to adoption in order that the adopted son might inherit Him and thus secure Him against the loss that would ensue from his being issueless, or at least partially offset that loss. The other possibility is that God also has certain emotional predilections and it is for this reason that He has fallen in love with one of His creatures to the extent of adopting him as His son. In each of the above-mentioned cases, the concept of God is marred by investing Him with several flaws, defects and weaknesses, and He is conceived as One lacking self-sufficiency, as One Who perforce must depend on others.
Hence, the opening part of the verse clearly proclaims God to be free of all defects, deficiencies and weaknesses which people ascribe to Him. This is followed by saying that God is All-Sufficient, that is, He is free of all those needs which impel an issueless mortal to adopt someone as his son. This is further followed by the assertion that all that is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to God and hence all human beings, without any exception, are His servants and bondsmen. This makes ii clear that there is no personal relationship between God and any of His creatures that would prompt Him to choose any, to the exclusion of others, for elevation to the level of godhead. For sure, He holds certain people, on grounds of their merit, to be dearer than others. But God's love for someone does not mean that he is lifted up from the rank of being God's servant to becoming His associate and partner in godhead. What God's special love for some person means can be gauged from the following verse of the Qur'an: 'Oh, surely the friends of Allah have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve - the ones who believe and are God-fearing. For them are glad tidings in this world and in the Hereafter' (see verses 62-4 above).
 

 

 

*69. In the preceding verses a combination of convincing arguments and persuasive instruction was employed to drive home to the people that their intellectual outlook and way of life were faulty. As opposed to that, the right way for mankind was highlighted and it was shown why that way was right. Thereafter, attention was paid to candidly exposing the attitude which the unbelievers had adopted during the past eleven years: instead of mending their ways in the light of the reasonable criticism to which they had been subjected and in response to the right guidance offered to them, they became inveterate enemies of the very man who was expounding a message that could ensure their salvation and who sought their well-being and had no axe of his own to grind. Regrettably, they responded to his arguments by throwing brickbats and answered his sincere counsels by hurling filthy abuses at him. They found even the existence of this man in their midst, of one whose main fault was that he called a spade a spade, absolutely insufferable. They virtually said that if in a group of blind persons there is anyone possessed of sight, the only right course for him is to blind himself rather than try to restore the vision of others. And if such a person refused to do so, it was for them to pluck out his eyes and make him blind like themselves.
No direct comment is made here with regard to the attitude of those people. Instead, God asks His Prophet (peace be on him) to narrate to them the story of Noah. Through this story the unbelievers would be able to see clearly their own predicament as well as the predicament of the believers.
*70. Faced with determined opposition from the unbelievers, Noah made it quite clear that he would not cease to strive for his cause, regardless of what the unbelievers might do for it is in God that he put his trust. (Cf. Hud 11: 55.)
 

 

 

*71. 'Those who transgress' mentioned in the present verse are those who, once they commit a wrong, cling to it out of adamance and obstinacy. These are the ones who, out of sheer arrogance and egotism, would like to stick to the stand they once took even if it was erroneous. Such people remain unmoved
 

*72. For a full appreciation of the story of Moses and Pharaoh, see the explanatory notes in Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. III, al-A'raf7, n. 83 ff. The points elucidated in these notes will not be repeated here.
*73. Intoxicated by their riches, political power and glory they considered themselves to be well above the level of ordinary human beings. Thus, instead of humbly submitting themselves to God, they waxed proud.
 

*74. The response of the Pharaonites to the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) was exactly the same as the response of (he Makkan unbelievers to the Prophet (peace be on him). This response bar, been mentioned earlier (see verse 2 above) in these words: 'This man is indeed an evident sorcerer.'
The context makes it clear that the Prophets Moses and Aaron (peace be on them) were entrusted with the same mission which had formerly been entrusted to Prophet Noah (peace be on him), then to the Prophets who followed him and finally to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) who was the last in the chain of such Prophets.
From the outset, the thrust of the surah has been the same - that man should take God, the Lord of the universe, and Him alone, as his Lord and as the sole object of his worship, service and obedience, and that he has to render to Him an account of all his deeds. Now, those who had rejected the message of the Prophet (peace be on him) are being told that their well-being as well as that of all human beings rests on affirming their belief in the One True God and in the Hereafter, a belief which has been invariably expounded by the Prophets down the ages. Man's well-being depends on affirming this belief, and on fashioning his entire behaviour on the basis of that.
This constitutes the pivotal point of the whole surah. The reference to other Prophets (peace be on them) in this surah by way of historical illustration indicates that the message of all the Prophets was the same as the one embodied in this surah. The Prophets Moses and Aaron (peace be on (hem) had conveyed the same message to Pharaoh and his chiefs. Had the mission of these two Prophets been merely to liberate a specific nation, as some people are inclined to believe, reference to this event for the purpose of historical illustration would have been quite discordant with the context in which it occurs. There can be no doubt that the mission of Moses and Aaron partially aimed at bringing about the liberation of the Israelites (then, a Muslim people) from the domination of an unbelieving nation. This was, however, a secondary rather than the central purpose of raising those Prophets. According to the Qur'an the main objective of the mission of these two Prophets was the same as that of all other Prophets. An objective which has been clearly set forth in the following verses of: 'Go to Pharaoh for he has certainly transgressed all bounds (of servitude to Allah). And say to him: "Would you rather be purified; and that I guide you to your Lord that you may fear Him" ' (al-Nazi'at 79: 17-19). Now, since Pharaoh and his nobles did not respond positively to this call, the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) was ultimately left with no other choice but to secure the liberation of his people, who were Muslims, and to take them away from the area dominated by Pharaoh. This was of course a fairly important event, and the Qur'anic narration of it also treats it as such. However, all those who are not inclined to view the detailed teachings of the Qur'an in isolation from its general principles, can never commit the mistake of considering the liberation of a people to be the basic purpose of raising a Prophet whereas inviting people to the true faith is of secondary significance, (For further details see Ta Ha 20: 44-52; al-Zukhruf 43: 46-56; and al-Muzzammil 73: 15-16.)
 

*75.In view of the apparent similarity between sorcery and miracle the Israelites hastily branded Moses (peace be on him) a sorcerer. In relegating Moses to the role of a sorcerer, however, these simpletons ignored the fact that the character and conduct as well as the motives underlying the activity of sorcerers are entirely different from those of the Prophets. Is it consistent with the known character of a sorcerer that he should fearlessly make his way to the court of a tyrant, reproach him for his error, and summon him to exclusively devote himself to God and to strive for his self-purification? What would rather seem to be consistent with the character of a sorcerer is that if he had gained access to the courtiers he would have gone about flattering them, soliciting their help in securing an opportunity to show his tricks. And if ever he succeeded in Finding his way to the royal court, he would probably have resorted to flattery in an even more abject and dishonourable manner, would have made himself hoarse in publicly praying for the long life and abiding glory of the ruler, and would then have humbly pleaded that he might be allowed to perform his show. And once the show was over, he would have disgracefully stretched forth his hands in the style of a beggar, entreating for an appropriate award.
All this has been condensed into the succinct statement that 'sorcerers never come to a happy end'.
 

*76.Had the sole demand of Moses and Aaron (peace be on him) been the liberation of the Israelites, Pharaoh and his courtiers would not have suspected that the spread of these Prophets' message would transform the religion of the land and that the supremacy of Pharaoh and his courtiers would be undermined. What made them uneasy was the fact that Prophet Moses (peace be on him) was inviting the people of Egypt to the true faith and that this posed a threat to the whole polytheistic way of life which was the very cornerstone of the predominance of Pharaoh and his chiefs and clergy. (For further details see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, al-A'raf7, n. 44 and al-Mu'min 40, n. 43 -Ed.)
 

 

 

*77. What Moses (peace be on him) presented before the court was no sorcery; rather it was the sorcerers who had made a show of their tricks of sorcery.
 

 

*78. The word dhurriyah used in this verse literally means 'offspring'. We have, however, rendered this into English as 'a few youths'. We have preferred this translation because the Qur'an employed this particular expression so as to convey the idea that it was a few youths - male and female - who had the courage of their convictions to embrace and champion the truth in those perilous times whereas their parents and the more elderly members of the community were unable to do so. The older segment of the population was too deeply concerned with its materialistic interests, too engrossed in worldliness and too eager to enjoy a life of security to stand by the truth when that seemed to invite all kinds of peril. On the contrary, this older generation tried to persuade the young ones to stay away from Moses for the simple reason that it would invite the wrath of Pharaoh upon themselves and upon others.
The Qur'an underscores this point, for once again those who came forward and courageously supported the Prophet (peace be on him) were not the elderly. They were rather a few courageous Makkan youths. Those who embraced Islam at this very early period in its history - the period of revelation of these verses - and who supported the message of truth despite fierce persecution, were all young people. This group was altogether bereft of the aged doters of a life free of peril and hazard. 'Ali ibn abi Talib, Ja'far ibn al-'Aqil, Zubayr, Talhah, Sa'd ibn abi Waqqas, Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr, 'Abd
Allah ibn Mas'ud were all young people and each one of them, at the time of embracing Islam, was under twenty. Likewise, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf, Bilal and Suhayb were all in their twenties while Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, Zayd ibn Harithah, 'Uthman ibn 'Affan and 'Umar ibn al-Khattab were between thirty and thirty-five years of age. The oldest among these Companions was Abu Bakr. and when he embraced Islam he too was no older than thirty-eight. 'Ammar ibn Yasir was the same age as the Prophet (peace be on him), and only one Companion, 'Ubaydah ibn Harith al-Muttalibi was older than he.
*79. The words ***** which occur in the present verse have given rise to the misunderstanding that all the Israelites were unbelievers, and that in the early phases of Moses' 'prophethood' only a very few persons were believers. The use of the preposition ***** when applied to ***** signifies 'to obey and follow someone'. What these words, therefore, mean is that except for a few young people none in the whole nation of Israel was prepared to accept Moses as his leader, to follow him and support him in his Islamic mission. The part of the verse which follows makes it quite clear that this was not because they had any doubts about the veracity of Moses (peace be on him) or about the truth of his mission. The only reason for them not joining hands with him was that they - especially their elders and nobles - were unwilling to risk Pharaoh's fierce persecution.
These people both in terms of pedigree and faith, belonged to the ummah of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph (peace be on them) and were, therefore, Muslims. Yet the long subjugation of the Israelites had created such moral degeneration and faint-heartedness among them that they had been rendered altogether incapable of championing the cause of faith and truth or of opposing falsehood and unbelief, or even supporting those who had set out to champion that cause. The overall attitude of the Israelites during the whole of this conflict between Moses and Pharaoh may be gauged by the following statement in the Bible:
They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came forth from Pharaoh; and they said to them, 'The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made us offensive in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us' (Exodus 5: 20-1).
According to the Talmud, the Israelites used to tell the Prophets Moses and Aaron (peace be on them): 'Yea', said the overburdened children of Israel to Moses and Aaron, 'we are like a lamb which the wolf has carried from its flock, the shepherd strives to take it from him, but between the two the lamb is pulled to pieces; between ye and Pharaoh will we all be killed' (H. Polano, The Talmud Selections, p. 152).
The Qur'an also refers to much the same when it mentions what the Israelites said to Prophet Moses (peace he on him): We were oppressed before your coming to us and after it (al-A'raf 7: 129).
*80. The word ***** which has been used here signifies transgressors, those who exceed the limits. But this literal translation hardly conveys the true spirit of the wored. For it has been used to refer to those who, in order to achieve their objectives, are not deterred from using any means, howsoever evil they may be. Such people do not mind committing injustice, or indulging in acts of moral turpitude. They are also wont to go to any extent in pursuing their desires. Once they have something in mind, they simply know no bounds.
 

*81. Such an address could, obviously, not be directed to a community of unbelievers. The Prophet Moses' statement makes it absolutely clear that the Israelites of those days were believers. Accordingly, Moses; (peace be on him) exhorted them not to be unnerved by Pharaoh's might, that they put their trust in God's power if indeed they were true believers as they claimed,
 

*82. This was the reply of the youths who came forward to support Moses (peace be on him). It is evident from the context that the ones who said: 'We place our reliance on Allah' were not the 'wrong-doing folk' [mentioned in the present verse] but the 'youths' [mentioned in verse 83 above].
*83. The supplication of these devout youths: 'Our Lord! Do not make us a trial for the oppressors', covers a very wide range of meanings. Whenever a people rise to establish the truth in the midst of prevalent falsehood, they encounter oppressors of all sorts. On the one hand, there are protagonists of falsehood who would like to crush the standard-bearers of the truth with all the force at their disposal. There is also a sizeable group of people who claim to champion the truth but who, despite their claim to be its devotees, are so cowed by the all-round supremacy of falsehood that they look upon the struggle to make the truth prevail as an unnecessary, futile and absurd pursuit. Such people are inclined, in order to somehow justify their insincerity to the cause of the truth, to prove that those who are engaged in the struggle to make the truth prevail are in fact in error. By so doing they seek to calm the uneasiness felt by their conscience concerning the desirability of struggling for the cause of the truth. Over and above all these are the common people who observe, as silent spectators, the encounter between truth and falsehood, and ultimately support the party which appears to be winning regardless of what aspect that party supports.
In this scenario, every reverse that the votaries of the truth suffer, every affliction or hardship that they endure, any mistake that they commit, and any weakness that they show becomes a cause of trial for all these groups. If the votaries of the truth are crushed or defeated, the protagonists of falsehood jubilantly claim that it was they, rather than those whom they opposed, who were in the right. The lukewarm supporters of the truth would cry: 'Look! Did we not foretell that the conflict with such mighty forces would merely result in a loss of many precious lives, that it would be an act of sheer self-destruction, an act of wanton suicide, which has not been made incumbent on us by the Law of God. So far as the fundamental requirements of faith are concerned, they are being fulfilled by the performance of basic religious duties and rituals. As for the rulers, however oppressive they may be, they did not prevent them from performing those duties.' As for the masses, their attitude is that the truth is known by the fact that it achieves victory. Hence, if a group comes forth as triumphant, the fact of its triumph proves that it was in the right. Similarly, if in the course of a struggle, the protagonists of the truth commit any lapse or betray any weakness in the face of heavy odds, or if even a single person succumbs to any act of immorality, this provides a good many opponents with a pretext to cling to falsehood. If the struggle meets with failure, people are so wont to lose heart that it becomes extremely difficult for any similar movement to rise for a very long time. Viewed against this background, the prayer of the companions of Moses (peace be on him) appears very meaningful: 'Our Lord! Do not make us a trial for the oppressors.' This prayer sought from God His grace that would protect them from their shortcomings and weaknesses, and would render their struggle successful in this world in order that their very existence might become a blessing for fellow human beings rather than a means, in the hands of oppressors, to inflict harm.
 

 

*84. The Qur'an-commentators disagree about the meaning of this verse. After carefully considering the actual words of the verse and reflecting over the context in which these words were said, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps because of the oppression prevailing in Egypt, and because the faith of the Israelites had become quite weak, congregational prayer had become defunct among both the Israeli and Egyptian Muslims,* The abandonment of congregational prayer was a major cause of the disintegration of their collective entity and the virtual extinction of their religious life. That is why Moses (peace be on him) was directed to re-establish congregational prayer and to construct or acquire a few houses in Egypt specifically for that purpose.
* The author's expression 'Egyptian Muslims' denotes those Egyptians who had embraced the faith of the Prophets, the faith of Moses (peace be on him) - Ed.
The reason for such a directive is that when a group of Muslims falls prey to degeneration and dissolution, the necessary effort to revive their religious spirit and to restore their shattered integrity, if it is to conform to a truly Islamic pattern, must begin with the revival of congregational prayer.
The directive to 'make your houses a direction for men to pray' suggests, in my opinion, that these prayer-houses should become pivotal points for the entire people. That the directive to 'establish Prayer' immediately follows this statement means that rather than offer Prayer at different places, they should congregate in the houses set aside for Prayer and perform it collectively. For certainly one of the implications of the expression 'to establish Prayer' which frequently occurs in the Qur'an, is its observance in congregation.
*85. Moses (peace be on him) was directed to banish those feelings of despair, awe and dismay which had seized the believers. To 'give glad tidings' encompasses the whole range required by this task.
 

*86. These verses are related to the early period of Moses' (peace be on him) mission whereas the prayer itself probably belongs to his last days in Egypt. The intervening period spans several years, the detailed events of which have not been mentioned here. At other places in the Qur'an, however, there are references to the events that took place in that intervening period.
*87. This alludes to the pomp and splendour and the glamour of cultural refinement because of which people had become enamoured of them and their life-style, and which had created in the former an irrepressible urge to ape the ways of the latter.
*88. This refers to the abundance of material resources which are available to the unbelievers to execute their plans, whereas the believers, insofar as they lack those resources, are forced to defer the execution of their plans.
*89. This prayer, as we have pointed out earlier (see n. 86 above), was made by the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) during his very last days in Egypt. Moses resorted to this prayer when, although Pharaoh and his nobles had witnessed a series of signs betokening the truth, and even though Moses (peace be on him) had made the truth all too patently clear to them, they still obdurately persisted in their hostility to it. Moses' prayer that God may 'obliterate their riches and harden their hearts' is a prayer that Prophets are wont to make at a time when they are faced with opposition like that mentioned above. The prayer is substantially in accord with God 's own judgement against those who obdurately oppose the truth - that they may never be enabled to have faith.
 

*90. Those who are ignorant of reality and who have no grasp of the beneficent considerations underlying God's decisions are liable to misunderstand things. Such people observe the weakness of the forces that stand for truth as against the forces of falsehood. They observe that those who seek to make the truth prevail suffer a series of reverses. By way of contrast, they observe the dazzling worldly success of those who stand for falsehood. On such occasions they fall prey to several misconceptions. They begin to suspect that perhaps God Himself wants that His rebels should continue to hold sway over the earth, that perhaps even He - Who Himself is the Truth - is not willing to support the truth in its encounter with falsehood. Under the influence of such a fallacious line of reasoning, they conclude that the struggle for establishing the hegemony of the truth is an exercise in futility. They feel, therefore, satisfied with the freedom to practise religious principles in a very narrow domain of human life; this is provided within the framework of a system of life which is based on denial of the true faith and the 'right' to violate the injunctions of God.
In the present verse God has directed Moses (peace be on him) and his followers not to fall prey to such erroneous ideas. God's directive, as embodied in this verse, amounts to saying that people should patiently persist in their efforts in the face of adverse circumstances, lest they also fall prey to the same mistake as committed by those who lack knowledge and wisdom.
 

*91. Though this event is not mentioned in the Bible, it is explicitly recorded in the Talmud in the following words: 'Who is like Thee, O Lord, among the gods?'
We settled the Children of Israel in a blessed land,94 and provided them with all manner of good things. They only disagreed among themselves after knowledge (of the truth had) come to them.95 Surely your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning their disagreements.
 

 

*92. Even to this day the exact place where Pharaoh's dead body was found afloat on the surface of the sea is known. Lying on the western coast of the Sinaitic peninsula, it is presently known as the Mount of Pharaoh (Jabal Fir'awn). A warm spring, situated in its vicinity, is also still called the Bath of Pharaoh (Hammam Fir'awn) after Pharaoh. Located a few miles away, Abu Zanimah is identified as the precise spot at which Pharaoh's dead body was found. If the name of the Pharaoh who died by drowning was Minpetah, as has been established by current research, his embalmed body still lies in the museum of Cairo. In 1907 when Sir Grafton Elliot Smith removed bandages from the mummified body of this Pharaoh, it was found to be coated with a layer of salt. This is clear proof of his death by drowning at sea.
 

*93. God continues to confront people with instructive signs, even though most of them, in total disregard of such signs, fail to derive any lesson from them.
*94. That is, God provided an abode for them in Palestine for their exodus from Egypt.
*95. Here reference is made to the schisms and dissensions which the Israelites caused and the ever new religious cults which they invented. It is pointed out here that they had not acted in ignorance of the truth; their actions rather emanated from mischievous designs. For they had been provided by God with the true religion and they knew its fundamental principles, its requirements, and the features which distinguish the true faith from the false ones. They were also well aware of what constitutes disobedience, on what matters man will be held to account by God, and on what principles man should fashion his life. Despite these clear directives the Israelites transformed their true faith into a multitude of religious cults, and developed them all on foundations altogether divergent from those provided by God.
 

 

*96. Though this admonition is apparently addressed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), in point of fact it is directed to those who entertained doubts about the Prophet's message. Reference is made to the People of the Book because the common Arabs were not conversant with the Scriptures. But so far as the People of the Book were concerned, there were doubtlessly some pious religious scholars among them who were in a position to corroborate the fact that the Qur'anic message was essentially the same as that delivered by the earlier Prophets.
 

*97. The statement 'the word of your Lord has been fulfilled' refers to those who are not interested in seeking truth; who, by dint of their apathy, bigotry, stubbornness, excessive worldliness and total unconcern about the After-life, make their hearts immune to the truth. God's judgement about such persons is that they will not be blessed with faith.
 

 

*98. Even though the Prophet Yunus, called Jonah in the Bible (860-784 BC). was of Israeli descent, he was sent to Iraq in order to guide the Assyrians. The Assyrians are, therefore, called here 'the people of Yunus'. Ninevah. the famous ancient town, was their capital, a great many ruins of which are still to be found on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite the present city of Mosul. One of the mounds in this area is still named after the Prophet Jonah. The splendour of the Assyrians may be gauged from the fact that their capital, Ninevah. spread over a radius of sixty miles.
*99. Although there are allusions to this incident in three places in the Qur'an, there is no mention of any detail. (See al-Anbiya', 21: 87-8; al-Saffat 37: 139-48; and al-Qalam 68: 48-50.) In view of the above, it cannot be stated with confidence why the Assyrians were singled out for being spared God's punishment even though God's Law is that if a people decide to believe after God has decided to punish them, their believing afterwards does not profit them.
The 'Book of Jonah' in the Bible contains some material relevant to the matter, but unfortunately that information is barely reliable. For, the 'Book of Jonah' is in no sense a heavenly revelation, nor was it even authored by the Prophet Jonah (peace be on him). What actually happened is that some four or five hundred years after Jonah's death some anonymous person produced the 'Book of Jonah' and had it incorporated into the Bible. Moreover, some of the contents of the 'Book of Jonah' are too absurd to be acceptable. However, were one to reflect on the allusions to the people of Yunus in the Qur'an and on the information provided by the 'Book of Jonah', one is inclined to support the view of the Qur'an-commentators, namely that since the Prophet Jonah (peace be on him) had left his station without obtaining God's permission to do so and since the Assyrians repented and sought pardon from God as soon as they saw the signs of God's impending punishment, God pardoned them.
One of the basic principles mentioned in the Qur'an concerning God's punishment of the world's nations is that He does not punish any nation until God's Message has been fully conveyed to them so that the people are left with no justification to claim that they were not aware of His Message. (See the Qur'an. al-Nisa' 4: 165 in conjunction with al-Isra' 17: 15-Ed.) Now in this case, as we can see, the admonition of the Assyrians did nor continue till the very end of the period granted to them by God because Prophet Yunus (peace be on him) migrated from his station. It is presumably for this reason that God in His justice decided not to punish them since all the requisite conditions of punishment had not been fulfilled. (For details see al-Saffat 37, n. 85.)
*100. When the Assyrians embraced the true faith, they were granted a fresh lease of life. However, they once again became wayward both in matters of belief and conduct. Though the Prophet Nahum (720-698 BC) warned them, it still had no effect on them. The final warning was delivered to them by the Prophet Zephaniah (709-640 BC) but that too was of no avail. Ultimately, God sent the Medes against them in 612 BC. The king of the Medes, with the assistance of the Babylonians, invaded Assyria, The Assyrian army was routed and besieged within the walls of Ninevah. Although they put up some resistance for a time, the flooded Tigris swept away the city walls, enabling the invaders to break through the defences and capture the city. Subsequently they set fire to the whole city and its environs. The Assyrian king set his own palace ablaze and was himself burnt to death. This brought to an end the Assyrian empire and civilization. However, recent excavations in the area have brought to light many traces of massive conflagration.
 

*101. Had it been God's will that only those who are true believers and obey God should inhabit the earth and that there should remain no trace of unbelief and disobedience, God would have caused only the faithful and obedient ones to be born. Nor would-it have been difficult for Him to providentially direct everyone to faith and obedience in such a manner that it would have been impossible for people to do otherwise. However, there is a profound wisdom underlying man's creation which would have been totally defeated by such a compulsion. For it was God's will to grant man the free-will to make his choice between faith and unbelief, between obedience and disobedience.
*102. What has been said here does not mean that the Prophet (peace be on him) sought to compel people into believing whereas God had dissuaded him from doing so. The technique employed in the above verse is the same as employed at many places in the Qur'an, viz. that although at times certain things are addressed apparently to the Prophet (peace be on him), they are meant, in fact, for the instruction of others. What is being said here is that the Prophet (peace be on him) had been assigned the task of making the right way abundantly clear to people with the help of convincing arguments. Thus the Prophet (peace be on him) had fulfilled the task assigned to him. Now, if they have no intent to follow the right way, and they feel sure that unless they are overpoweringly compelled to they should know well that it is no part of a Prophet's task. Had God desired that people be made to have faith compulsively, He could have done so without raising any Prophet.
 

*103. All God's bounties are solely at His disposal and one can neither have access to any of these without His leave, nor can one confer them on others. The bounty of having faith and being directed to the right path is also fully contingent upon God's leave. Hence, it is simply inconceivable that without God's leave anyone can attain this bounty or confer it on anyone else. Even if the Prophet (peace be on him) sincerely wants people to believe, it does not lie in his power to accomplish that without God's leave and succour.
*104. This fully explains that God's leave and succour are not bestowed on people arbitrarily. God does not capriciously permit or disallow people to embrace faith. There is a definite law - a law that is based on wisdom - according to which God disposes such matters. The law is that those who in their quest for the truth use their reason properly, and in an unbiased manner, are assisted by God. Owing to God's concern, the means of arriving at the truth are made available to them in proportion to the extent of the sincerity of their quest for the truth and their efforts to reach it. They are also granted the succour required for their success in grasping the truth. As for those who are not really in search of the truth, who keep their reason enmeshed in biases, or fail to make use of their reason in their search for the truth, such people are able to find nothing but the abomination of ignorance and misguidance, of false thinking and evil-doing. Their attitude makes it very clear that they merit nothing but ignorance and misguidance and, hence, that is what they are destined for.
 

*105. This is the final and categorical response to the unbelievers. The unbelievers had asked that they be shown some convincing sign that would make them confirm the truth of the Prophet's claim to prophethood. Here they are being told that if the unbelievers had any desire to seek and accept the truth, there are innumerable signs scattered throughout the heavens and the earth, signs that are more than sufficient to convince them about the truth of the Prophet's message. All one needed to do was to look around with open eyes and to reflect on what one observes. Conversely, if there are some people who have no inclination to seek the truth, then no signs - howsoever extraordinary and wonder-provoking they may be - will help them to have faith. For, whenever such people witness any such sign, they cry out, as did Pharaoh and his chiefs, that it is 'plain sorcery' (see verse 76 above). Those who are afflicted with such a sickness, wake up to the truth only when God's punishment befalls them in all its horror. An instance in point is Pharaoh's realization of the truth as he faced death by drowning (see verse 90 above). But to repent only when one is being seized by God's wrath is of no avail.
 

 

 

*106. The theme broached at the beginning of (his discourse is now resumed at the point of its conclusion. (Cf. verses 1-10.)
*107. The Qur'anic expression *****_ literally means 'who causes you to die'. This literal rendering, however, does not convey the spirit of the statement made here. For what is being said amounts to the following: God is the One Who has the power over your lives and Who enjoys such absolute control over you that as long as He wishes you to remain alive, you live, and no sooner than He signals you to surrender your lives to Him, you do so. It is Him alone that I worship, and it is to His service and obedience that I am bound.
In this context, it should be borne in mind that the Makkan polytheists believed, as do the present-day polytheists, that only God, the Lord of the universe, has the absolute power to cause death, a power that no one else shares with Him. They also believed that even those whom they associated with God in His attributes and authority were all too helpless to avert their own death. It is to be noted that of the numerous divine attributes, this particular attribute of God - viz. that He alone has the power to cause death - is mentioned here alongside the doctrine that men ought to give themselves in total devotion and service to God alone. The reason for it seems to be that in addition to being the statement of an important fact, it also provides a rationale for exclusively serving and worshipping God.
In other words, the statement of the Prophet here amounts to saying that he is exclusively devoted to the service of God since the latter alone has all power over life and death. Conversely, why should anyone devote himself to worshipping others who, let alone having power over the life and death of others, do not have power even over their own life and death? The rhetorical force of the verse is also significant, for instead of saying that 'He has power over my death', the verse says: 'He has power over your death'. Thus one simple sentence pithily embraces three things - the thesis, its supporting argument, and the exhortation to accept that thesis. Had it been said that: T only serve Allah Who has power over my death', its logical implication would have been that in view of the fact that He had control over the Prophet's life and death, the latter should have served only Allah. However, it has been said that: 'I only serve Allah Who has power over your death', in this form, the implication of the verse is that not only the Prophet but also others should serve only God and this even though they had succumbed to the error of serving others than God.
 

*108. The emphatic form in which people have been urged to adhere to true faith is noteworthy. Here people are not simply being asked to 'embrace the faith', or to 'follow the faith', or to 'become adherents of the faith'. Apparently such expressions were too weak and feeble to convey the idea of a total, firm, and steady adherence to faith as required of man. The actual words of the verse, ***** suggest that one should focus one's attention on the true faith, that one ought not to waver and let one's attention wander, that one ought to refrain from, occasionally moving a step forward and another step backward, or turning alternately left and right. What one is rather required to do is to keep moving straight ahead on the path to which one has been directed. This is clear and forceful enough in itself. However, the Qur'an does not stop at that. It adds the condition that the attention should be *****, that is, one characterized by exclusive and sincere devotion. What is thus being demanded is that one should adhere to this religion, this way of serving God, this way of life comprising worship, service, servitude, and obedience and in such a way that man's devotion and service to God are total. Once the true faith has been adopted, there should remain no trace of any liking for the false ways which have been forsaken.
*109. The Prophet (peace be on him) is asked not to be one of those who associate others with God in His being, His attributes, His claims against His creatures, and His authority over those who set up others than God as partners to God. These others could be either one's own self, or some other person, or a group of persons; a spirit, a jinn, an angel, or any tangible or imagined being. Thus, the demand is not just a positive one to follow the path of serving the One True God with total devotion and steadfastness - there is also a negative aspect of the demand - that one ought to detach oneself from those who associate others with God in His divinity in whatever form. Moreover, one is required to be exclusively devoted to God not only in the realm of belief but also in the realm of conduct; not only in the individual but also in the collective sphere of life; not only when one is in a mosque, but also when one is in an educational institution, or in a court of law, or a legislative body, or in stately palaces where political decisions are made, or in market places bristling with trade and commerce. In short, one should adhere wherever one might be, to the doctrine of exclusive devotion to God. This is a way that should be quite distinct from the way of those who have developed in their lives a hodgepodge of two opposites: devotion to God and devotion to others than God. In short, one who believes in worshipping the One True God alone can never go hand-in-hand with those who believe in polytheism. For how could a Muslim conceivably be satisfied to go step-by-step with, let alone follow the way of those who associate others with God in His divinity? For in the latter eventuality the believer will be unable to fulfil the basic requisite of his faith, viz. the doctrine of monotheism.
Moreover, the Qur'an asks the believer not only to shun overt but also covert and subtle forms of polytheism. One should be especially cautious about the latter since the consequences of any kind of polytheism are dreadful. Some people, out of their naivety, however, are inclined to take a light view of covert polytheism, considering it to be of less consequence than the open variety. One should be wary of such complaisance for covert polytheism may, in fact, be even more serious than the open variety. For an enemy out in the open can be more effectively countered than the one who is hidden from sight, or one who masquerades as a friend. One may well ask: which disease is more fatal, the one with the obvious symptoms, or the insidious one which develops within, eating at the vital organs, and yet which shows no external symptoms?
This analogy holds true for the subtle form of polytheism. For the danger of open polytheism, of one that can be easily identified, is obvious to all and sundry. However, it is the subtle form of polytheism whose diagnosis calls for unusual insight and a mature grasp of the requisites of monotheism. For polytheism in its subtle form goes about striking its roots imperceptibly. The result is that in the course of time the roots of the true faith are eaten away even before anyone is alerted to such a dangerous development.