ظَٰلِمِينَ

21:15.

Commentary:

The reason why even confirmed atheists have been found to cry to God for help when Divine punishment overtakes them, is that at such a dreadful time, man becomes not only conscious of his own utter helplessness but also of the might and power of a Higher Being.

2:52, 93; 4:154; 7:153; 20:89.

20:90.

Commentary:

The calf is discarded and condemned as a deity, because it does not speak to its votaries nor guide them to any way. This shows that God can remain a true deity only as long as He speaks to His servants and provides for their guidance. So those are manifestly in the wrong who think that, whereas God used to speak and reveal Himself in the past, He has ceased to do so now. It is foolish to say that there is no harm if God has ceased to speak now when He spoke to His chosen servants in times gone by. If this argument possessed weight, worshippers of the calf could also advance a similar argument with regard to it. The fact is that no attribute of God can be supposed to have ceased to operate or become extinct. The gift of Divine revelation is attainable even now as it was attainable in the past, and those who look upon it as a thing of the past are grievously mistaken. God speaks at all times, and those who possess the capacity and quality to hear His voice, can and do hear it even now. Take away the power of speech from God and you leave Him no better than a calf. It is absurd to argue that as the Law of Islam has been made perfect, so no revelation is needed after the Holy Prophet. Revelation does not come merely to bring a new Law. It is primarily meant to grant freshness of spiritual life to man and bring him near unto his Lord and Master.

3:12; 8:53.

Commentary:

The verse repeats the subject matter of 8:53 above, with the change that here (1) the words اخذھم اللّه (Allah punished them, lit. Allah seized them) have been changed to اھلکناھم (We destroyed them); and (2) the words, We drowned the people of Pharaoh, etc. have been added. This is to point to the severity of the punishment and the total destruction of the disbelievers.

26:177; 38:14; 50:15.

Important Words:

ان (surely) is a common Arabic word giving a number of meanings, e.g., if; not; verily or surely; because; when. It is sometimes redundant (Lane).

الایکة (the Wood), the plural of which is الایك is derived from the verb ایك (ayika). ایك الشجر means, the trees grew thick and formed a wood. الایکة means, a collection of numerous tangled or dense trees, particularly (though not necessarily) of the kind called سدر and الاك (wild berries); a thicket (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

The word الایکة seems to refer to Midian in the vicinity of which there existed tangled and luxuriant trees after which these people or a section thereof were called اصحاب الایکة. Midian lay in the Sinai Peninsula, a few miles from the sea. It was originally the name of a tribe who were descended from Abraham through Keturah and who had settled in the locality known after their ancestor Midian, son of Keturah. They were good businessmen and carried on trade with India through Bahrain or Aden. When, however, their business flourished, they resorted to illicit methods in trade (26:184).

The fact that, according to the Quran, the Prophet Shu‘aib was sent both to اصحاب الایکة i.e. People of the Wood (26:177, 178) and اصحاب مدین i.e. People of Midian (11:85) shows that both are the names of the same people or, rather, of two sections of the same people who had adopted two different kinds of trade, one living on commerce and the other keeping herds of camels and sheep and selling milk, wool, etc. Two sections of the same people living in the same town are generally seen to be following different trades in such towns as are situated on the borders of jungles and forests. So the people of al-Aikah is another section of the tribe of Shu‘aib (26:177, 178) who has also been spoken of as having been sent to the people of Midian (7:86, 11:85 & 29:37).

Further evidence of the close relationship of the "People of the Wood" with the "People of Midian" is furnished by the fact that identical faults have been ascribed in the Quran to both. Speaking of the latter, the Quran says: So give full measure and full weight, and diminish not unto people their things, and create not disorder in the earth after it has been set in order (7:86), while Shu‘aib addresses the former in the following words: Give full measure, and be not of those who give less. And weigh with the true balance. And diminish not to men their things, nor act corruptly in the earth, making mischief (26:182-184). This shows that the "People of the Wood" and the "People of Midian" (to whom Prophet Shu‘aib was sent) belonged to the same parent tribe and had adopted different forms of trade. It may also be noted here that Midian was both the name of the tribe and the town they lived in, at the head of the gulf of ‘Aqabah, and near it was situated the wilderness or Aikah abounding in dwarf trees of the species of wild plums and affording shelter to camels, sheep and goats. For a description of the ایکة or wood near Midian, see "The Gold Mines of Midian" by Sir Richard Francis Burton.

7:6.

Important Words:

نفحة (breath) is inf. noun from نفح which means, it diffused its odour. نفحت الریح means, the wind blew or it blew gently. نفحه، نفحة means, he gave him a gift. نفحة means, an odour or a plenteous odour; a blast or a breath of wind; a gift. نفحة من السموم means, a grievous blast of hot wind (Lane & Aqrab).

14:43.

Commentary:

The words, the fulfilment of true promise draws nigh, refer to the destruction of the power of Gog and Magog and the triumph of Islam through the Promised Messiah whose advent by the consensus of Muslim scholarly opinion has been foretold in the verse, "He it is Who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the Religion of truth that He may cause it to prevail over all religions" (61:10). The domination of Gog and Magog will be followed by catastrophic occurrences in the world which eventually will result in the triumph of Islam and the vanquishment of the forces of falsehood and materialism as represented by Gog and Magog.

11:70-71.

Commentary:

The verse speaks of two things: (1) the glad tidings that the messengers brought to Abraham and (2) the warning that the people of the city of Lot were about to be destroyed. The glad tidings conveyed to Abraham were about the birth of a son and the cities to be destroyed were Sodom and Gomorrah. They were situated in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea on the road from Arabia to Syria. The road has been called سبیل مقیم (a road that still exists) in the Quran (15:77). The Dead Sea is also called the Bahr Lut.