وَإِلَى

6:159; 16:34; 89:23.

Important Words:

یاتیھم الله (Allah should come to them) is a metaphorical expression, meaning, Allah should come to them with His punishment, i.e. Allah should punish them. The metaphor ایتان الله i.e. coming of God, is used by the Quran elsewhere also (16:27; 59:3). In contrast to this, the Quran uses the metaphor توب الله i.e. turning of God, to express His turning with mercy (2:38; 9:117.) Similarly, ایتان الملئکة i.e. the coming of the angels, indicates their coming with punishment.

ظلل (coverings) is the plural of ظلة (zullah) which is derived from ظل and اظل the latter word meaning, he or it afforded or cast a shadow. But whereas ظل (zill) the plural of which is ظلال or اظلال means, shadow, ظلة whose plural is ظلل, means, a covering or a shade, i.e. a thing that casts or gives a shade or a shadow (Aqrab). The word ظلة or ظلل is generally used in connection with punishment (Mufradat).

الغمام (clouds) for which see 2:58. The word has been used by the Quran both in connection with mercy (7:161) and punishment (25:26).

Commentary:

The form of speech has been changed here from the second to the third person. The verse has apparently been addressed to either disbelievers or to hypocrites and the weak in faith. If it be taken to refer to disbelievers, as the change of form in the address indicates, it would mean that by desisting from belief they are, as it were, waiting for the punishment of God, and the verse incidentally hints that appointed punishment would come to them through raining clouds. The reference is to the Battle of Badr, when God helped believers by sending down clouds and rain (Bukhari), as was promised (25:26), and also sent down angels (8:10) who inspired the believers with courage and filled the hearts of the disbelievers with fear (8:13). Some of the disbelievers are reported to have actually seen the angels on that day (Zurqani). The matter was then "decided"; for, on that memorable day, all the chief leaders of the Quraish were killed, the Muslims obtaining a decisive victory which broke the power of the enemy. The coming of clouds refers to the rainfall which on the battlefield of Badr proved a blessing for the Muslims. It made the sand firm for them, while the land on the side of the enemy, being clayey, became slippery.

If, however, the verse be taken to refer to the hypocrites or the weak in faith, as the preceding two verses would suggest, then the clause, that Allah should come to them in the coverings of the clouds, would mean that if they did not mend their ways, God would have to chastise them even though they were apparently resting in the shade of faith, which is likened to a غمام or cloud. As shown under Important Words above, the word غمام (clouds) is sometimes used in connection with God’s mercy (7:161).

3:119; 4:140, 145.

Important Words:

نفسه (His punishment). نفس is the noun-infinitive from نفس (nafusa) which literally means, it was or became loved and highly esteemed. نفس به (nafisa) means, he was tenacious or niggardly of it. نفس means, the soul; the spirit; the mind; the body; a person or being; a person’s or being’s self; brother or relative, or one belonging to one’s own religion; purpose, will or desire; punishment, etc. (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

With the advent of political power to Islam, as promised in the preceding verses, the contracting of political alliances became necessary for the Muslim State. The verse under comment embodies the guiding principle that no Muslim state should enter into any treaty or alliance with a non-Muslim state which should in any way injure, or conflict with, the interests of other Muslim states. The interests of Islam should transcend all other interests.

The phrase, in preference to believers, means: (1) that Muslims should not form friendly relations with disbelievers in preference to believers, shunning the latter and seeking the former; (2) that they should not form any connection with disbelievers in a way that may harm the interests of Muslims. They are, however, free to contract friendly relations with such non-Muslims as are friendly to them, according to the exigencies of time and circumstances (60:9, 10).

The verse also instructs Muslims to be on their guard against the plots and machinations of disbelievers. The expression, except that you cautiously guard against them, refers not to the power of the enemy but to his cunning against which Muslims should always be on their guard.

The clause ویحذرکم الله نفسه rendered as And Allah cautions you against His punishment, may also be translated as "and Allah cautions or warns you concerning Himself", meaning that if you do not faithfully accept the guidance of God, and make friends with disbelievers in preference to believers, you will lose God, Who will in that case have no connection with you.

3:130, 190; 4:132; 57:11.

Commentary:

As whatever is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to God, so it was in the fitness of things that finally a Prophet with a universal mission should have been raised. The previous system of raising separate Prophets for separate peoples and separate periods was meant only by way of preparation. Now was the time of one God and one Prophet.

63:6.

2:171; 31:22.

Commentary:

It is indeed strange that when science and knowledge advance and new discoveries and new inventions are made, people are quick to throw overboard worn out ideas and theories tenaciously held by their forefathers and hasten to accept and benefit by the new inventions and discoveries; but when a Prophet brings to them a new guidance from God, they refuse to accept it on the ground that it does not agree with the beliefs and ideas held by their ancestors and with their own time-honoured notions and theories. How foolish is this attitude and how lame and absurd the excuse for the rejection of divine truths! This is how the Quran exposes the untenability of the position of the rejecters of truth.

3:14.

2:211; 3:110; 35:5.

Commentary:

Whereas the preceding verse referred to the appearance of the enemy in a dream, the present verse refers to its actual appearance on the battlefield. What happened was that the enemy had kept one-third of their number behind mounds so that, when both parties came face to face, Muslims saw only two-thirds of their army. The Meccan army, about 1,000 strong, was more than three times the number of the Muslims who were only 313, but it so happened that the latter saw them to be only twice their own number. This naturally made the Faithful more hopeful. As hinted above, the enemy had concealed one-third of their number from the Muslims so that (as they thought) the latter might not be overawed and flee from the battlefield. This ruse was meant by them as an enticement to the Muslims so that the latter might be encouraged to give them battle and consequently be annihilated. Indeed, the Muslims were so weak at that time that the Meccans were anxious to get them within their grip, so that they might wipe them out of existence and thus extirpate Islam. The weakness of the Muslims became all the more apparent when the Meccans actually saw them, for they saw them smaller than their actual number, and both these impressions helped to encourage either party to come to grips with the opposing party, with the result that the "thing decreed" was miraculously brought about.

50:8; 79:31.

Commentary:

The verse purports to say that the earth has been spread out for the Companions of the Holy Prophet that they might carry the Message of Islam far and wide. The four verses (vv. 18-21) teach a Muslim the supreme moral lesson that he should be generous like the clouds, exalted like the heaven, of fixed resolve like the mountains, and soft and humble like the earth.

2:256; 27:66; 49:17.

Commentary:

The verse implies that the great boon of prophethood is bestowed only on those who are fitted to receive it and discharge its great responsibilities. The words, "what is before them and what is behind them," may signify the attributes and qualities they already possess and those which they later on develop.

3:190; 5:121.

2:113.

Commentary:

The words, "With Allah rests the end of all affairs." mean that it is God alone Who causes all actions to produce their results.

6:35; 22:43; 40:6; 54:10.

Commentary:

After it has been mentioned in the preceding verses that a great Divine gift is about to be bestowed on mankind in the form of the Quran and after the would-be rejecters have been warned not to hasten to reject it, the Holy Prophet is told in the present verse that he will be rejected, opposed and persecuted but this should not discourage or dismay him because his opposition and persecution would be no new thing as all the Divine Messengers and Prophets before him were also rejected, opposed and persecuted, but the enemies of truth could never frustrate God’s plan but themselves always came to grief.

6:165; 39:8; 53:39.

36:12.

Important Words:

مثقلة (heavily laden soul) is derived from ثقل which means, it was or became heavy, weighty or ponderous; it was or became heavy, weighty or preponderant ideally; he was or became slow, lazy, wanting in activity or intelligence. ثقلت المرأةmeans, her pregnancy became apparent. أثقله means, he overburdened him. مثقل of which مثقلة is feminine gender means, heavily burdened or burdened beyond his power; overburdened; weighed down or oppressed by disease, debt, etc. (Lane & Aqrab). See also 4:41.

Commentary:

The word وزر may here signify the burden of duty or responsibility; or it may mean the remorse or shame which a person feels when he commits a sin or crime. Taking it in the first sense, the expression لا تزر وازرة وزر أخری would mean that the personal duty or responsibility of one person cannot be shifted to, or discharged by another. Everyone has to carry his own cross. Taking the word in the second sense the expression cuts at the root of the doctrine of Atonement on which the whole fabric of Christianity stands. The verse purports to say that no person can relieve any other person of his grief or sorrow, nor can he share with him the remorse or regret that afflicts his conscience after he has committed a crime. Evidently as these feelings have their origin in the heart of man, they cannot be transferred to or shared by another person. The punishments of Hell are only the spiritual embodiments of man’s evil actions done in this life and the person who committed the evil deeds quite clearly will not share these spiritual embodiments of his actions with another person who had not committed those evil deeds.

6:89.

Commentary:

The verse is of general application, and stresses the futility and stupidity of polytheistic beliefs and idolatrous practices.

Commentary:

The Surah opens with the important subject of revelation of the Quran as implied in the Divine attributes Ha Mim, placed at its beginning.

2:108; 7:159; 43:86.

13:3; 55:8.

Commentary:

And just as the heaven has been raised high, so will the Holy Prophet, the spiritual heaven, be exalted. Or the verse may mean that just as God has placed the sun, the moon, the stars and planets in the physical heaven and through them He sustains the physical world, so will the spiritual sun (the Holy Prophet), the spiritual moon (the Promised Messiah), the spiritual planets and stars (Muslim divines) sustain the spiritual world.

50:8.

Commentary:

The verse may signify that like mountains the believers are firm in their faith, or like mountains which secure the earth against earthquakes and violent commotions and render it stable, the righteous servants of God are the cause of the stability of the spiritual world. But for them the violent earthquakes of disbelief and sin should shake the spiritual earth to its foundations and cause great havoc in it.