ROOT ع ي ش

15:21; 46:27.

Commentary:

The verse purports to tell the people that in spite of the fact that God has given them all necessary things, yet they are not grateful to Him. This is intended to warn men to be prepared to reap the fruits of their evil actions.

7:11.

Commentary:

The verse points out that though man claims superiority over other animals, yet he can make no provision for their sustenance. That provision is made by God alone and constitutes a great proof of His existence.

In the figurative sense the relation of this verse to the previous ones is that like physical sustenance, man is also in need of spiritual sustenance in every age. The people of one generation cannot provide spiritual sustenance for another generation. This is because not only human knowledge and learning but also man’s conditions and circumstances vary from age to age. This change in the conditions and circumstances of man requires a most comprehensive Divinerevelation containing teaching for his material, moral and spiritual development in all ages. For, if it were left to man himself to provide for the needs and requirements of future generations, he could never do it. The knowledge of the present generation cannot meet and satisfy the problems and needs of future generations. Ordinarily, even the Word of God revealed in one generation becomes ineffectual in another generation. But this is not so with the Quran, which is meant to be the universal and the final Law. In the Quran, therefore, God has made full provision for all the needs and requirements of man. Just as God has made provision for the sustenance of animals, for which man cannot make any provision, even so has He placed in the Quran for all future generations of man an inexhaustible store of spiritual food, which they will find in ample measure as and when the need for it arises.

The Quran, in fact, resembles the material universe in the inexhaustibility of its resources. Just as the physical needs of man have been fully met in the past and will continue to be met in future by the material resources of the earth, similarly, his moral and spiritual needs have been met in the past and will continue to be met by the Quran, which constitutes the spiritual universe. See also the succeeding verse.

18:102.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that a person who consigns God to oblivion in this life and leads a life which obstructs or impedes his spiritual development and growth and thus deprives himself of heavenly light will be born blind at the time of his second birth in the afterlife. This will be because his soul in this life which serves as a body for the much more spiritually developed soul in the next world had become blind on account of his having led a sinful and depraved life in this world. This is one meaning of the verse.

It may have another interpretation. معیشة (life) signifies the basis of human life and it is not only physical amenities and comforts on which human life depends but other innumerable things also contribute to its sustenance and to man’s social, moral and spiritual development. Of these things those people who reject Divine teaching remain deprived and thus they lead a difficult life, full of strains and stresses. Moreover, the sphere of action of the rejecters of Divine teaching is very narrow and limited because they have no grand and great goal before them, as it is belief in Divine attributes and the development by man of these attributes in his person that help to broaden his vision. This is why the Prophets of God and His Elect stand on a much higher moral plane than the votaries of philosophy.

7:5; 21:12; 22:46; 65:9.

15:24; 19:41.

Important Words:

بطرت (exulted) is feminine gender from بطر which means, he exulted; or exulted greatly or excessively and behaved insolently, or he exulted by reason of wealth and behaved with pride. بطرت عیشک means, thou exultest excessively and behavest insolently in thy manner of life. بطرت معیشتھا in reality is بطرت فی معیشتھا which means, it exulted in its manner or means of life. بطر النعمة means, he held the favour in light estimation and was ungrateful for it. بطر الحق means, he disdainfully rejected the truth (Lane & Aqrab). See also 8:48.

Commentary:

The verse means to say that the Meccans fear that if they accepted the new message, they will be deprived of their property and possessions by more wealthy and powerful peoples. But they seem to ignore the fact that there had lived in the past peoples who were more powerful and wealthier and possessed superior civilizations than the people of whom the Meccans are afraid and yet when those people rejected the truth and behaved proudly they were so completely wiped out from the face of the earth as if they had never lived on it, and those who were considered weak were made to take their place.

Commentary:

The verse answers the objection of disbelievers that God should have selected some "great man" for the great responsibility of conveying His Message to mankind. It purports to say that what they call greatness carries no weight in the sight of God. Material wealth, power and influence are trash compared to the great spiritual wealth which the Holy Prophet possesses. Difference in wealth, power and status among men is in agreement with the Creator’s own plan. But for this difference, human society would have gone to pieces. Apart from this, these things have no intrinsic worth; they only tend to turn men away from God. The verse also administers a severe rebuke to disbelievers asking them: Since when have they arrogated to themselves the role of being the distributors of God’s grace and mercy, or the privilege of deciding who is deserving of it and who not?

88:10; 101:8.

17:13; 28:74.

Commentary:

Just as man’s body regains new vigour and strength after restful sleep at night, similarly, after a long period of sloth and inertia in relation to spiritual matters a people become invigorated to make new sacrifices when a Divine Reformer appears among them.