ROOT ل م ح

11:124; 18:27; 35:39.

7:188; 54:51.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that as disbelievers have stood in the way of the Holy Prophet whom God has chosen for the bestowal of His favours, they will be visited with sudden and terrible punishment. This prophecy will certainly be fulfilled because it has been made by God Who has power over all things.

It is interesting to note how the verse anticipates future critics of Islam who say that the unprecedented success which attended the Holy Prophet and Muslims was due only to natural causes. The verse forestalls this objection by saying that it is God, the Almighty and Knower of all secrets, Who is speaking of the imminent destruction of disbelievers. The fulfilment of this prophecy will not be a chance occurrence but one that will be brought about by the Almighty God. This prophecy was made towards the end of the Prophet’s stay in Mecca. And it is well-known that shortly after the power of the idolatrous Arabs was broken, it was followed by the overthrow of the Persian and Roman Empires, the two great military powers of the time. All this was foretold at a time when the Prophet and his followers were being persecuted in Mecca. Who can say that all this was only the inevitable result of natural causes and was not due to a special decree of the All-Powerful God?

The words, the twinkling of an eye, mean, "within a short time". The prophecy implied in the words, "the matter of the Promised Hour," met its remarkable fulfilment in the Battle of Badr and finally in the conquest of Mecca.

7:188; 16:78.

Commentary:

The defeat of the Meccans at the battlefield of Badr came like a bolt from the blue, so sudden and swift it was and so complete and destructive. The glory of Kedar departed, as if in the twinkling of an eye.